Loonatics Unleashed New Season
by Black Oracle
Summary: My fanmade season of LU! Chapter 6 is up! Enter my Sylvester and Tweety descendents: Stealth Cat and Sonic Canary! This is an action packed one! Canary needs the Loonatics' help to save Stealth and put a stop to the Crime Lord!
1. Chapter 1

**Loonatics Unleashed - New Season **

I have heard that this site does not accept stories in script format so I have reworked and now changed the original episode script-format of this story into a typical prose-format story. Apologies to those of you who may have read my first script-format story and preferred that one to this new rewritten version, but we have to obey the site's rules on story submissions!

The stories to come are all ideas of mine for Loonatics Unleashed episodes in a new season. I will be introducing new original character villains and a long running plotline that will build up to a season finale. Hope you like what I've come up with. Oh, and Loonatics Unleashed is the property of WB.

**Episode 1: A Living Nightmare **

It is a quiet evening. The roads of Acmetropolis are empty save for a truck driver transporting an oil tanker delivery to a factory. Suddenly, the driver sees a dark hooded figure standing in the middle of the road in front of him. Taken by surprise, he swerves the tanker wildly around the figure, barely missing her. But as he glances down at himself, he sees hundreds of spiders and other insects crawling all over his body and hands. He panics and screams, losing control of his steering and the oil tanker topples over onto its side upon the road. The driver pulls himself out of the vehicle frantically just as it explodes into flames. He wildly tries to brush off all the imaginary insects off of him. The mysterious hooded person disappears into the night. The Loonatics, via jetpacks, arrive at the scene to find the petrified truck driver on his knees and slapping himself madly crying, "Get 'em off me! Get 'em off me!" Slam and Rev curb the fires from the fallen tanker with their tornadoes and super speed respectively. Ace and Lexi attempt to calm down the frantic driver as Tech and Duck watch them.

'Hey take it easy mister! Just calm down!' says Lexi.

'Yeah, and tell us what happened here!' Ace adds.

The driver, with a fearful voice, stammers, 'Someone…on the road….insects all over….lost control….'

'That makes a lot of sense.' Duck mutters sarcastically.

Tech looks at the shaking driver thoughtfully and offers an observation. 'He seems to be suffering vivid hallucinations.'

Rev and Slam, having put out the fires from the tanker, join the others with the driver. Police cars and an ambulance van pull up at the scene too. Medical staff see to the frightened driver.

Rev asks, 'That's-weird.-What-do-you-think-made-him-start-seeing-things-all-of-a-sudden-then?'

Ace replies to Rev's query, 'Ah dunno, but somethin' tells me that we'll find out soon enough.'

From a building top nearby, the mysterious, shadowed, hooded figure crouches and watches the Loonatics. A masked lower half of her face is shown.

'Yes, you'll find out soon enough indeed.' she utters darkly.

The show's opening sequence starts at this point.

The Loonatics are back at HQs reviewing the case of the hallucinating driver.

Tech presents his analysis of the case. 'This is the third case of, apparently, hallucination-induced accidents in Acmetropolis this week. Coincidence?'

'I think not. Somethin' screwy's goin' on.' Ace affirms.

Zadavia appears in a monitor screen. ''Screwy' is right Ace. There's another incident occurring downtown at The Acme Prehistoric Museum as I speak. Security cameras have caught images of a hooded figure breaking in.'

Zadavia uploads video footage for the Loonatics to see. The footage shows the mysterious figure setting up explosives onto the museum entrance and blowing it up, then making her way inside.

Lexi questions, 'What would anyone want with a bunch of old dinosaur bones and ancient stone fossils?'

'Umm, maybe they make good ornaments for the home?' comes Duck's offered reason.

'We're on it Zadavia!' Ace responds confidently.

Scene changes to the outside of The Acme Prehistoric Museum. It is night time again. The Loonatics make their way through the rubble and debris of the blown-up entrance and start investigating inside, turning on their in-built arm torches.

'So where's our mysterious intruder?' Duck queries.

Ace turns to Rev. 'Can you pick up anything on your GPS Rev?'

Rev activates his GPS powers then shakes his head. 'Nope-nadda-nothin'-Ace.'

Lexi's auditory amplification is activated. 'Hold on guys, I thought I heard something!'

From a dark, shadowed corner of the museum, the hooded woman emerges. She is wearing a long, stylised, navy blue trench coat with an additional shorter layer to the coat hanging from her shoulders. The lower half of her face is covered by a half-mask so that only her deep blue eyes are visible under her thick hood. She looks up at the Loonatics.

'Finally we meet Loonatics. I have been awaiting your arrival.' she says calmly.

Tech questions, 'And you would be…?'

The hooded woman replies, 'I am Psy-clops.'

'Eeerrr, you have more than one eye miss.' Ace jokes.

Psy-clops replies, 'But it is only one 'eye' that holds most significance for me.'

Psy-clops pulls back her hood revealing long jet black hair with a centre-parting on her head. She closes her two eyes in concentration.

'Yo! Lady! Don't fall asleep! Wake up!' Duck shouts at her.

Suddenly, to the surprise of the Loonatics, a large third eye opens on the woman's forehead.

Slam, in surprise, cries, 'Raadaablaablaahuh!'

Slam suddenly sees the walls of the museum closing in on him. He frantically tosses his head around to look for an escape route, but can find none. He cries out in alarm and panic and falls over, looking around him wildly at the approaching walls. Rev looks down at his feet to see them buried firmly into the floor. He struggles to free himself but cannot, then he turns his head around to see a terrifying, large, faceless shadow of a monster coming toward him. He cries out in fright as well, still helplessly rooted to the spot. Lexi looks down at her arms and hands only to see them change into grotesque grey mis-shapened appendages, then to her further horror, she sees the rest of her body following suit and transforming into a disgusting, malformed, melting mess. She screams in terror.

Ace, looking at the terrified Slam, Rev and Lexi, demands, 'What's happening to them!'

Then suddenly Ace too sees his whole team screaming and crying out to him. He tries to run to their aid but their forms seem to retreat further and further away from him as he tries to reach them. He cries out in anguish.

Duck is confused by what is happening. 'What the…?'

Duck is hit by the sounds of echoing mocking laughter from all around him.

Duck angrily shouts out, 'Shut up! Shut up!'

Duck tries to conjure up some of his power orb randomizers to throw, but to his dismay he cannot. He lets out a gasp then a whimper of 'Mommy…' as the sounds of mocking laughter grow louder around him.

Tech, quickly pulling out a flash grenade from his belt, attempts to warn his team mates, 'She's a psychic telepath! Everyone! Get back! Get….'

But Tech falls to his knees too. The grenade drops from his hand as he sees a heart-wrenching scene of some of his prized inventions exploding into flames and a flame-thrower gun of his pointing directly at him and charging up to fire. He squeezes his eyes shut and clutches his vigorously shaking head.

Tech croaks, 'My…precious babies…'

The flash grenade, fortunately, rolls over to Psy-clops' feet and goes off, emitting a bright flash and stunning her from her concentration. The Loonatics' frightening visions cease as suddenly as they came.

Ace recovers first and points in Psy-clops' direction, ordering to his team, 'Quickly! Get her!'

But the Loonatics find her missing when they manage to recover themselves from their shock.

Duck, with dry sarcasm, exclaims, 'Great, she's gone with the wind!'

'What did she do to us?' Lexi asks, holding herself tightly.

Tech, with a hand to his head, replies, 'As far as I could tell, she was telepathically inducing extremely vivid and nightmarish hallucinatory images in our minds.'

Rev, glancing down at his feet, claimed, 'It-all-looked-pretty-real-to-me.-I-mean-I-coulda-sworn-that-my-feet-really-were-stuck-in-the-ground-and-there-was-a-giant-monster-after-me-and-….'

Slam weakly agrees with, 'Yabaalaarablaarahscary.'

Ace acknowledges, 'Yeah Slam, it was pretty scary stuff. Let's get back to HQ and recuperate. We're gonna need to prepare for the next time we lock horns wid this Psy-clops lady, or we'll be as helpless as cornered mice!'

Commercial break comes in at this point.

The Loonatics are back at HQs recuperating. They are all trying to get some rest in their rooms, but they are having little success as nightmares plague their sleep. Ace, with gritted teeth and a tensed, creased brow, dreams of leading his team into grave danger. They all fall down into a bottomless canyon as he watches on, completely unable to do anything to save them. He wakes up startled and shocked, then looks up to his bedroom ceiling to see he has burned two holes right through it. Lexi dreams of looking at herself in a mirror and finding her whole body drastically deformed beyond recognition and horrible to behold. She wakes up with tears in her eyes and covering her face with her hands. Duck dreams of crowds of people pointing, laughing mockingly and whispering taunts at him about his uselessness. He wakes up crying out protests. Slam dreams of being in a small, confined room with the walls moving in on him. He wakes up scrambling and gasping for air. Tech dreams of being in an air battleship creation of his with a giant particle beam canon charging up and targeting Acmetropolis. Tech is at the controls frantically trying to stop the canon from firing, but he fails, and the canon fires, decimating Acmetropolis. Tech shoots up in bed screaming, 'NOOOOO!' Rev dreams of once again being pursued by the faceless shadow monster, but his super speed is useless and he cannot outrun it. The monster closes in on him and Rev wakes up sweating beads and panting heavily. The Loonatics gather in the main living room early next morning.

Ace, tired and hunched over, yawns, 'Couldn't sleep a wink last night.'

Lexi rubs her eyes. 'Same here. I had a really bad dream.'

The others nod in agreement to the bunnies.

Tech, trying to stifle a yawn, theorizes, 'It would seem Psy-clops's mind control has longer lasting effects too. If this keeps up on a nightly basis, we're going to be suffering permanent insomnia!'

'Noooo waaayyy! I need my energy boost naps!' Duck exclaims.

Slam agrees, 'Radablaamarah!'

Ace orders, 'We need to go track down that 'psycho-lops' and find out how to rid ourselves of our living nightmares! Tech get on the scanners, search the whole planet if you have to, find her!'

Tech confidently responds, 'Searching is what canines do best! I'm on it chief!'

The scene changes to Acme Central Park. Night-time again. The Loonatics arrive there on their motorcycles.

Tech informs his team mates, 'According to my city wide brain wave scanner, there was an unusually high electro-neurological signature emanating from this location.'

'Tech, in English please?' requests Ace.

Tech rolls his eyes. 'I think Psy-clops might be here.'

Psy-clops' dark voice rings out clearly all of a sudden, 'Excellent detective work Coyote!'

The Loonatics whirl round to see Psy-clops again.

Ace quickly gives the command, 'Loonatics! Nail her now! Before she has a chance to use her psychic powers again!'

The Loonatics rush at her except for Tech, who readies a long stun gun in his hands. Psy-clops avoids a brain blast from Lexi by jumping high up and knocks her backwards with a jumping round house kick. Ace fires off an optical laser blast at Psy-clops too, but he is cut off by Lexi flying into him and they both fall over backwards. Then Slam tornadoes his way to her, but her third eye opens and instantly Slam sees the ground rising up above him as four walls, boxing him in tightly. His claustrophobia sets in and he cowers, curling up into himself.

Lexi cries out, 'Slam! Someone help him! He's claustrophobic!'

But Lexi is then confronted with the sight of her body becoming deformed and grotesque again. She gasps sharply as she stares down at her apparently twisted hands and fingers.

Ace tries to call to Lexi, 'Lexi! Fight it! Whatever you're seeing, it isn't real!'

Lexi covers her face with her hands and backs away from Ace. 'Stay away from me Ace! I'm hideous!'

Ace in dismay tries to reach for her, but is hit with the sight of all his team mates lying dead on the ground around him. He collapses into a defeated heap at the sight.

Ace whispers between tears, 'It's…all my fault….'

Tech shouts over to Ace whilst raising his stun gun. 'C'mon Ace! It's just an illusion! Snap out of it!'

Duck exclaims, 'Looks like Danger Duck and Boy Rooster will have to save the day!'

Duck and Rev teleport and run (respectively) toward Psy-clops. Duck conjures up two power orbs and prepares to toss them at her, but she turns her third eye's gaze onto him and he drops the orb eggs as he is surrounded by the sounds of taunting whispers and mocking laughter once more. He covers his ears with his hands in a vain attempt to block out the sounds.

Duck screams out, 'Just leave me alone! All of you! You have no idea how hard it is trying to be a role model hero!'

Tech shouts over to Rev, 'Rev! Distract her! And don't look her in the third eye!'

Rev runs from side to side in a zig-zag pattern in front of Psy-clops, keeping a fair distance between them. Tech takes aim at her with his stun gun and fires off a shot, Rev retreats over to Tech's position, but the stun shot misses her narrowly as she jumps to one side. She then faces the last two standing Loonatics.

Tech and Rev together utter, 'Uh-oh…'

Rev suddenly feels his legs growing weak and feeble and finds he cannot move them as he senses the approach of his faceless shadow demon from behind.

Rev squeaks in fear. 'Not…again!'

The sense of vulnerability overcomes him.

Tech drops his stun gun and feels himself encased in one of his power exo-suit creations which seems to take on a mind of its own. It raises his arm inside of its own, targets Tech's team mates and prepares to fire its in-built machine guns at them. Tech tries to resist the machine's murderous objective, but it is futile.

Tech cries out in helpless despair. 'NOOO! Don't do it!'

Psy-clops scoffs, 'So pitiful! The great Loonatics so easily conquered by their own inner fears! Is this the best Acmetropolis has to offer in its own defence?'

Ace shakes his head and stands up slowly to face Psy-clops.

'No. I wouldn't let my team mates down that easily. I'm not that bad a leader. I'm better!' he affirms to himself.

Ace's distressing hallucination disappears as he regains his confidence.

Ace shouts out, 'Loonatics! Don't fall prey to your fears! Conquer them! Rise above them! And they'll no longer have power over you!'

Lexi looks down at the vision of her deformed body again.

Lexi creases her brow in determination. 'I don't look like this! This isn't me at all!'

Lexi, to her delight, sees her body change back to normal.

Duck faces the imaginary critical crowd surrounding him in a fed up manner. 'Ah zip it the lot of you! I don't need your approval to know that I'm a great superhero!'

Duck stops hearing the mocking voices and laughter.

Slam gets up from the ground and begins smashing through his imaginary wall prison with his fists, breaking free of it.

Rev forces his legs up. 'My-legs-aren't-that-weak!-I'm-a-roadrunner-with-super-speed-for-cryin'-out-loud!-Nothin'-can-catch-me!-Nothing!'

Rev regains the use of his legs and starts running dizzying circles around his nightmare shadow monster. It disappears into thin air at this.

Tech growls within his hallucinatory exo-suit. 'Hrrrr! You don't control me! I control you! You don't malfunction unless I program you to! I don't make such major mistakes with my inventions! I am not an incompetent genius!'

Tech's exo-suit prison dissipates from around him. He activates his electro-magnetism and attracts his dropped stun gun back into his palms, then takes aim once again at Psy-clops, and fires for a second time. This time, the stun shot hits Psy-clops square in the chest and she falls over, apparently knocked out cold. Her third eye closes shut. Tech bends over the limp form of Psy-clops and inspects a strange insignia mark he spots on the back of her hand. The mark is an image of a cracked sun with a chimera-like creature emerging out of the solar crack. The other Loonatics gather to his position and Tech stands up to join them in conversation.

'Nice-shot-Tech!-Good-thing-you-brought-that-stun-gun-along-otherwise-it-might've-been-more-difficult-to-capture-Psy-clops-if-we-….' Rev blurts.

'Yeah yeah, we get the picture Rev! Tech's gizmos are handy and all. But he didn't defeat miss mystic eye here all by himself you know.' Duck dismisses.

Ace agrees, 'Duck's right for once guys! We all overcame our own personal inner fears and came through for each other. And in the space of 5 minutes too! Not bad for a day's work!'

Lexi points at where Psy-clops was lying a few seconds before. 'Umm, where is miss mystic eye?'

The Loonatics look around puzzled.

Duck complains, 'Great! She's gone with the wind. Again!'

Tech rubs his chin thoughtfully. 'Hmm, she had a strange marking on the back of her hand. Some kind of organization's emblem, though I didn't recognise it. I suspect this Psy-clops is working for someone else, someone that has interest in us perhaps. She only seemed to be intent on challenging us. That would also explain her lack of obvious motivation for her other crimes in the last week.'

Ace concludes, 'When you put it that way Tech, it does sound like somethin's afoot. We may have ourselves some new enemies Loonatics.'

Scene changes to sometime later. Psy-clops, having escaped the Loonatics, returns to her mysterious organization's base of operations somewhere unknown. Only the interior of a large, dark hall is shown as Psy-clops walks up an eerily spotlighted aisle. She stops at a short flight of steps that lead up to a platform with a throne-like chair standing upon it, and bows to the shaded figure of a sinister-looking man seated in the highchair. Psy-clops pulls back her navy blue hood and removes her half-mask to reveal the rest of her face with dark blue lips as well.

Psy-clops reports to sinister man, 'The 'test' has been conducted as you requested. They have each passed with flying colours. And I believe they have great potential for your future plans my lord.'

The sinister man, in a satisfied manner, replies, 'Excellent! The Loonatics will play a crucial role in our new world order...'

**The End of Episode 1! **


	2. Chapter 2

Whew! Finally finished episode 2 of my fan-made season! It's a bit longer than my first story, so it might seem a bit long-winded. And Zadavia doesn't have much of a role, but I've focused a bit more on some of the Loonatics' interactions with one another for this story, especially two certain bunnies! I hope you all enjoy it. I'll be introducing a descendent of Pepe Le Pew in this episode too!

Also, thank you to PurpleCobra247, acosta perez jose ramiro, Shark, dOMITUPSYK, Nightcrawler4ever and Solartiger for your encouraging comments!

Now, on with the show!

**Episode 2: Love Stinks**

At the Loonatics' headquarters, Ace is in the combat room practising dodging and shooting down incoming lasers, projectiles and blade discs. Tech is in the control room above, setting the combat practice level and monitoring Ace's progress.

'How am I doing Tech!' shouts the bunny up to the observing coyote.

'You've avoided 85 out of the hundred,' reports Tech into a microphone that transmits his voice into the combat room, 'not bad.'

'But could be better!' affirms Ace with determination.

The doors to the combat room open just then and Lexi walks in.

'There you are Ace! I've been looking for you. I've got something here you should see!' exclaims the pink female bunny excitedly, holding some kind of message imager device in her hands.

But Ace has resumed his combat practice and is shooting blade discs down with his eye lasers. 'Later Lex! I'm kinda busy right now!'

Lexi's initially excited expression falls into one of disappointment at Ace's ignorant words. She turns quietly and walks back out through the combat room's sliding doors. Ace seems to be oblivious to her exit as he continues to jump over projectiles. Suddenly the combat practice sequence stops completely. Ace, puzzled, turns up to look at the coyote in the control room, but he is no longer there. Ace is mildly startled to find him three steps behind him when his eyes fall back downwards. Tech has his arms crossed and there is a disapproving look on his face.

'Problem Tech?' queries Ace.

'You just pushed her away.'

'Lexi? Nah, she's fine. Whatever she had to show can wait. But I've got a combat score to improve.'

Tech doesn't look impressed with Ace's choice of priorities and is about to say something else when Rev comes rushing into the combat room.

'Guys-turn-on-the-TV-there's-some-interesting-news-on-about-someone-famous-arriving-in-Central-Acmetropolis-today.' blurts the red road runner.

Tech pulls out a remote and turns on a holographic TV screen in front of them.

An image of a smartly dressed black and white skunk anthropomorph descending steps out of an aircraft appears as a female news reporter on the screen reports, 'Today French millionaire bachelor Mr Romeo Le Pew arrived in Central Acmetropolis from Acme France. He will be here for 2 weeks to attend the opening party of his spectacular new roof-top diner restaurant, 'The L'Amour Cuisine', which is the newest addition to his expanding international restaurant business. When queried as to who would be attending his restaurant's opening celebration party, he replied that anyone who is anybody would be there. All the big stars of Acmetopolis have been invited. And most intriguing of all, Acmetropolis' superhero defenders, The Loonatics, are also on the guest list!'

Ace and Tech's jaws drop in surprise.

Rev looks at them quizzically. 'Didn't-Lexi-show-you-the-invitation-we-got-in-the-post-this-morning?-She-was-looking-all-over-for-you-Ace-but-maybe-she-didn't-think-to-look-in-here-coz-she-was-searching-everywhere-else-but-…'

'Yeah Rev, we know now.' Ace interrupts, he and Tech still with dumbfounded looks on their faces at the news.

Opening sequence and theme plays at this point.

A few nights later, the Loonatics are sitting in one of Tech's best-looking vehicles on their way to the roof-top diner restaurant's big opening party. Tech is driving the red-painted car whilst the others sit at the back in spacious seats. The guys are dressed in tuxedos whilst Lexi is in a cream white evening dress. She has her arms crossed and is looking away from Ace who is trying to offer her a small apologetic look.

'C'mon Lexi, I said I was sorry already! How was I supposed to know you had an important invitation to show me?' Ace pleads mildly.

'Hmph!' Lexi responds still looking away from the yellow bunny.

Ace leans over to Rev next to him and whispers, 'Women, always so particular about how you treat 'em!'

Rev shrugs unhelpfully at his leader's comment.

On the other side of the back seats, Duck inspects his reflection in the car window. 'The name's Duck, Danger Duck!' he says to his mimicking reflection, straightening up his black blazer. 'Oh yeah, I'm as smooth as they come!'

Slam grunts and shifts about uncomfortably in his constricting tuxedo suit, moving his arms around in awkward motions.

Finally the Loonatics pull up at the well-lit entrance to a very tall building. The five at the back get out of the car and Tech drives it into a parking space, then gets out and joins the others. They enter the magnificent looking building and step into an elevator that takes them to the very top roof level. Once there, Ace and his companions are greeted by the sight of a bustling, glamorous party in a huge golden hall. People are standing around or sitting at cloth-covered tables, chatting and drinking from glasses of wine. Slam spots the selection of buffet food laid out on some long tables at the sides of the hall; he immediately tornadoes over to gobble it up.

'Well, looks like someone's gunna be having a good time tonight!' Ace comments grinning.

The Loonatics are approached by a suave-looking black and white skunk anthropomorph and a tall shaved-headed man in tuxedos too.

'Aaahh, zhe Loonatics! Finally you 'ave arrived!' the skunk says in a strong French accent. 'Velcome to my L'Amour Cuisine!'

'Mr Le Pew, thank you for inviting us,' Tech politely greets the skunk whilst shaking his hand. 'Your restaurant looks magnificent.'

'Why zhank you Dr Coyote! Pleaze, make yourselves comfortable.'

'It's a pleasure to meet the infamous Loonatics!' says the man to the side of Romeo Le Pew, grabbing Ace's hand in a firm handshake.

'Oh, zhis is Tony Vulgari, my assistant manager,' informs Romeo to the Loonatics, 'Ee iz very dedicated in 'elping moi run mah culinary business.'

Romeo's eyes fall upon the eye-catching form of Lexi and he is instantly at her side.

'Aaahh, Miss Lexi Bunny I perzume! You are az lovely as in all the pictures ah 'ave zeen!'

Lexi blushes at Romeo's flattering compliment. 'Errr, thank you Mr Le Pew.'

Romeo takes her hand and kisses it. 'Pleaze, call me Romeo madamemoiselle!'

Ace, annoyed, takes a step forward intending to interject between Lexi and Romeo, but Tony Vulgari blocks his path and begins long-windedly chattering away to him about the restaurant business. Ace just nods politely at the bald-headed man, but his eyes follow Lexi as she is lead onto the dance floor by the smooth-talking French skunk. Romeo pulls Lexi close to him in a ballroom dance embrace.

'So Miss Lexi, do you like French cuisine?' Romeo queries whilst gazing deeply into her emerald eyes.

'One of my favourites Romeo.' she replies smilingly.

'Say-it-looks-like-Romeo-over-there-is-courting-our-Lexi-and-if-I-didn't-know-better-I'd say-Ace-was-jealous-coz-he-keeps-eyeing-them-like-a-hawk!' blabs Rev to Tech and Duck beside him.

'Pfff! I can rake in more ladies than that!' boasts the mallard, 'Why I'm practically a female magnet! Watch!' Duck tightens the bow-tie around his neck and strides up to a small group of women. 'Alright ladies! Don't all rush me at once!' He pulls off what he believes to be a dashing smile to the staring women. The ladies, unimpressed, grab baguettes from the tables, their umbrellas and other stick like objects and start whacking the poor duck.

Tech and Rev look on at the struggling duck and shake their heads. Tech then spies the suspicious movements of a few men across the hall. Suspicions aroused, the coyote follows one of the men at a safe distance, turning his head away and pretending to drink from a glass when the man looks behind himself at one point. The man disappears into the kitchen. Tech follows him in and observes him doing something on one of the food shelves. The man then makes his way calmly out of the kitchen. Tech runs over to the food shelf and starts scanning his eyes over it. To his shock he spots a small detonator device set to go off in 5 minutes.

He shouts out aloud to all the chefs in the kitchen, 'Everyone clear out! There's a bomb in here!'

All the chefs gasp and start rushing out of the kitchen into the main hall. Tech follows after them. He scans the hall quickly for the man that planted the detonator and spots him and a few other men heading toward an exit.

'All of you! Stop!' he shouts at them, but they quickly run out the exit upon sight of the approaching coyote.

Rev runs up to Tech. 'What's-going-on-Tech!-All those-chefs-are-screaming-something-about-a-bomb-and-…'

'I think there's a few around here! Get everyone out!' commands the coyote.

Rev speeds off. Ace ushers running people down the exit stairs. Lexi along with Romeo goes to help him. Slam tornadoes through a wall and Rev picks up people and speeds out through the gaping hole, dropping them off on the ground below outside. Slam does likewise with his tornado maximizer. Duck grabs onto some people and teleports them out of the building. Tech gathers together most of the detonator devices from around the hall with his magnetic powers and piles them into the furthest corner of the hall he can find. Then he uses his magnetic powers to rip off a few metal doors and other metal objects, shaping them into a large shield to cover the pile of detonators with.

Ace calls to him urgently, 'Tech! They're gonna blow! We gotta go now!'

'Nearly done Ace!' Tech shouts back.

Ace and the other Loonatics, being the last ones in the restaurant, quickly escape through the hole in the wall and land safely on the ground outside. They all turn around expecting Tech to follow right after them. But to their horror, the roof-top restaurant they just left then explodes.

'Tech!' cries Rev in dismay.

All the Loonatics' faces fall as they fear the worst for their friend Tech.

'Oh-Tech!-I-never-told-you-but-you-were-the-best-friend-a-roadrunner-could-ever-ask-for-even-though-I-ruined-that-invention-you-were-working-on-2-months-ago-coz-I-was-curious-and-started-pushing-a-few-of-its-buttons-then-it-just-went-ka-boom!-Please-forgive-me-wherever-you-are-now!' blurbs Rev in grief.

'It was you that ruined my vehicle-repair-bot-200!' A smouldering, burnt coyote walks up to the grief-stricken roadrunner bird.

'Yes-I-….Tech! You're-alive!' Rev cries in relief.

Tech's molecular regeneration restores him back to normal. 'Barely,' he croaks weakly.

Rev launches himself onto the green coyote and squeezes him in a tight power hug. Tech, almost choking, tries to push the red roadrunner off of him, unsuccessfully.

'Miss Lexi! Are you alright? You are unharmed?' Romeo questions Lexi with concern, taking her hand in his.

'I'm fine Romeo! As you can see I'm still in one piece!' Lexi cheerfully tries to settle the skunk's concern.

Ace, with a cross expression on his face, walks up to the couple. 'So any idea who would want to try destroying yer restaurant Mr Le Pew?' Ace interrupts, slight annoyance apparent in his voice.

Romeo Le Pew looks on at his burning restaurant, frustrated. 'I do not have a clue!' he replies disappointedly. Tony Vulgari, who is standing behind his French skunk boss, puts a hand on Romeo's shoulder. 'But I intend to find out!' Romeo mutters under his breath to himself.

Commercial break here.

All the Loonatics are back at HQs. Everyone, except Lexi, are in the command control room, trying to figure out some leads on the intended demolition of Romeo's restaurant.

'Maybe those guys hated French cooking?' offered Duck sarcastically.

Slam blabs something in disagreement to Duck's comment about the cooking being distasteful, shaking his head vigorously.

Tech is gently tapping away at a keyboard and studying a computer screen intently.

'Anything?' inquires Ace.

'It seems Romeo's got some intense competition in the culinary business. 'Perfect Cooking's' being in tight competition with our skunk friend and his company for the past year. Both companies have been expanding rapidly in the same areas of Acmetropolis and are fighting each other for more business,' informs Tech.

'Perhaps we should go have a liddle looksee at 'Perfect Cooking's' head office then,' suggests Ace.

Just then, Lexi walks into the command control room, dressed in a slim-fitting red top and jeans and carrying a small handbag over her shoulder.

'What's with the dress code missy?' queries Duck.

'I'm going out shopping for some new evening outfits,' answers Lexi.

'Evening outfits?' questions Ace, immediately unsettled.

'Yeah, can't be seeing Romeo again in these old rags now can I?' replies the pink bunny.

'Seeing-Romeo-again?' repeats Rev puzzled.

'He invited me out for dinner at another one of his restaurant branches this Friday,' Lexi explains, slightly impatient.

'Lex, we're about to head out to investigate ….' begins Ace.

'…a lead on the bombing at Romeo's L'Amour Cuisine, I know. I heard you guys. I have super hearing remember?' Lexi finishes. 'You boys can handle a little info gathering without me I'm sure. And when you get back, you can tell me all about what you've discovered.'

'Alright Lexi, we'll go ahead without yo….' Tech starts, but Ace doesn't let him finish his statement.

'Lex, we don't have time for shopping now,' Ace commands firmly, annoyance present in his voice once again. 'We gotta sort this case out foist!'

Lexi raises an eyebrow at her leader indignantly. 'The five of you can handle this easily,' she replies calmly. Then she turns to walk out the door, but Ace impulsively reaches for her wrist and stops her. Lexi turns back to face him surprised, and looks at his hand tightly gripping her wrist. 'Ace? Let go of me, please,' Lexi cautiously requests of him. Ace, blinking, suddenly realizes what he's doing and lets go of Lexi's wrist. She glances at him momentarily before walking out the door. The others, having observed all this, just look at each other in puzzled fashions and shrug their shoulders.

Later, Ace and the others, minus Lexi, arrive at Perfect Cooking's head office via jetpacks. They land on the reinforced glass paned roof. Tech pulls out a pocket-sized electronic lock-opener device of his and sets it down on top of an electronic lock to one of the roof windows. The device's LED lights flash red a couple of times before changing to green and emitting a low beeping sound. The click of an opened roof window follows instantly after the beeping, and Tech easily pulls open the window pane. He and the other Loonatics jump through the opened roof window and land delicately on the floor inside. They are in a filing cabinet room.

'Look around in all the cabinets and see if there's anything mentioning Romeo's restaurant business,' commands Ace in a hushed tone.

The others nod and spread out to search in different cabinets. After a few minutes though, Rev perks his head up and his eyes are glowing red. 'Ace!' he calls in a loud whisper, 'I'm-picking-up-a-moving-signature-in-this-vicinity-on-my-GPS!'

Ace and Rev quietly go to look for the source of Rev's psychically-sensed signature. They look around a few cabinets and spot a dark, shuffling figure in a corner. The stranger is wearing a black burglar's outfit. Pressing their backs flatly against oppositely-positioned filing cabinets, Rev and Ace look at each other side to side. Ace raises his hand and silently signals to Rev to ambush the stranger on the count of three. He raises three fingers, then two, then one. Ace and Rev jump out of their hiding positions as quick as lightning and pounce on the dark figure, tackling him to the floor. Rev holds the stranger's arms down whilst Ace weighs him down by sitting on top of him. Ace pulls off a mask that covers the stranger's face and to his and Rev's complete surprise, Romeo Le Pew looks up at them, surprised himself at the sight of the two Loonatics.

'Le Pew!' Ace nearly shouts out loud incredulously. Ace's brows drop down quickly as his suspicions kick in. 'What are you doing snooping around 'ere?'

'I could ask you zhe same thing monsieur Ace Bunny,' replies Romeo coyly. 'But I'm not stealing anything if zhat is what you are thinking.'

Ace, unconvinced, eyes the French skunk harder. 'Trying ta sabotage the competition perhaps Mr Le Pew?'

To Ace and Rev's further surprise, Romeo's form suddenly dissipates from underneath them; he turns into a cloud of gas which floats over to the open roof window that the Loonatics had entered the building through before and escapes. Ace and Rev stand up and are joined by Slam, Duck and Tech just in time to see the unusual gas cloud float out.

'What the quack was that!' questions Duck.

Later, back at HQs in the command control room again, Ace and Rev tell the others, who are seated, about their sighting of Romeo Le Pew.

'We-tackled-him-to-the-floor,-asked-him-a-few-questions,-then-he-just…evaporated-into-gas!' explains Rev.

'Another individual affected by the meteor hit last year?' suggests Tech thoughtfully.

'Meteor radiation victim or not, Romeo Le Pew is still under suspicion of corporate sabotage of and attempted information stealing from Perfect Cooking!' Ace insists. 'He could've even blown up his own restaurant the other night! Claiming indemnities for the loss and damage AND placing his Perfect Cooking rivals under public suspicion!'

'There's no evidence for such accusations Chief. We don't know anything about Le Pew's intentions if anything past just building his culinary business,' reasons Tech.

'Tech! He was snooping around Perfect Cooking's head office!' cries Ace in frustration at the coyote, and pointing behind himself in the direction of Perfect Cooking's head office.

Tech calmly stands and confronts Ace, face-to-face. 'So were we, Chief. But I think the bigger question here is: why are you so eager to lay blame on him?'

Rev, Slam and Duck all nod their heads in agreement with Tech's question. Ace freezes at the blunt question. Just then, as if in answer to Tech's question, Lexi enters the room with paper bags hanging from her hands' grip.

'What's all the yelling over Romeo in here about?' Lexi queries. Her super hearing missed little.

'Lex, you can't see Romeo again this Friday!' Ace insists.

Lexi's face hardens. 'And why not!'

'We caught him sneaking around at Perfect Cooking's head office and…'

'You think he's a criminal!' Lexi finishes angrily, crossing her arms.

'Look Lex, he could be dangerous!' Ace tries to plead with her.

'The only thing that's dangerous around here is your controlling, obsessed attitude!' Lexi fires back at Ace. With that she storms out of the control room. Ace's face falls sadly.

Friday evening comes and Lexi enters another stylish French restaurant. She is dressed in a short cherry-red dress with an accompanying red bow tying her long ears together at the top of her head. She spots the dashing form of Romeo Le Pew waving at her from a candle-lit table for two. She smiles and makes her way over to him. A little later after eating their meals, Romeo's face takes on a solemn expression.

'Lexi, my little petit fleur, I need to tell you something important,' Romeo says in a low voice.

Lexi leans closer to him. 'If this is about you and my team mates bumping into each other at Perfect Cooking's head office the other night…'

'Aahh, I zhee monsieur Ace must have informed you already then,' Romeo confirms, 'Yes, I was looking around at Perfect Cooking's 'ead office. I suspected they might be behind zhe bombings at my L'Amour Cuisine. But I found no evidence of that at the 'ead office.'

'So who would want to…?'

'I have no idea now,' Romeo sighs. 'I also need to tell you zumthing else about moi Miss Lexi.'

'How 'bout we leave that for another time Romeo? I'm beat. I think I need to retire for tonight,' requests Lexi tiredly.

'Of course my little petit fleur. I shall take you home,' offers Romeo.

Romeo and Lexi stand up from their table and Romeo waves a thank you at some of his staff in the restaurant, then the couple make their way out. Outside, Romeo leads Lexi to his Rolls Royce-like car and opens the door for her. They both sit in and make themselves comfortable in the vehicle's seats. Suddenly two men in dark sweaters and caps approach the car and knock roughly on Lexi's window side. She winds down the window to see what they want, but as soon as she does, they instantly whip out gas sprayers and spray a noxious knock-out gas inside the car. Lexi and Romeo cough a few times. Romeo tries to open the car door and Lexi pushes a button on a gold bracelet she is wearing around one of her wrists; they both pass out within seconds though. The button Lexi has pushed on her bracelet starts flashing silently.

Back at the Loonatics' HQs, Zadavia contacts Ace and the others.

'Loonatics! I have received a distress signal from Lexi. She's in danger!' alerts Zadavia from a monitor screen.

'I knew that skunk would be trouble!' growls Ace. 'Where is she Zadavia?'

'She seems to be on the move. Her signal's going out of Central Acmetropolis toward the West Side docks.'

'We're there!' exclaims Ace. 'To the jet craft Loonatics!'

Over at the Acmetropolis West Side docks by a wide-spanning river, Lexi and Romeo slowly come to from the effects of the knock-out gas. They are tied up and hanging from the top of a raised crane hook over the river waters. A small group of armed men are pointing their guns up at the pair. A bald-headed man then walks toward them.

'Tony Vulgari!' Romeo identifies the bald man. 'What is zhe meaning of all zhis!'

Tony Vulgari speaks, 'It's just business, 'boss'. 'My' business now that is!'

'Vulgari! Isn't he your assistant manager!' Lexi recalls out loud to Romeo.

'Oui, petit fleur, but not anymore now!' answers Romeo grudgingly.

'You're right about that 'former' boss!' Tony mocks, 'Coz soon I'm gonna be the new boss of your culinary business!'

'And how exactly were you planning on getting there mister?' Lexi shoots at Tony.

'Such a nosey, but pretty, little bunny!' Tony teasingly comments. 'I damaged the L'Amour Cuisine 5 nights ago,' Tony turns to Romeo, 'it was the best way to ruin your public image as a high-class restaurant runner. Not too many people are gonna be impressed with your unsafe restaurants! Not to mention you having seemingly dangerous enemies!'

'You're scum Vulgari!' Lexi fires. 'You won't get away with this!'

'Actually Miss Bunny, I will.' Tony Vulgari nods at one of his armed henchmen, who then activates the crane to slowly lower Lexi and Romeo down into the river waters. 'Y'see, once Romeo and you are out of the way, no-one will ever suspect that I had anything to do with the restaurant bombing or your, currently impending, demise. And with poor Mr Le Pew gone, I'll step in to fill his place as chief director of the business!'

'Tony! Let her go! She haz nothing to do wiz any of zhis!' Romeo pleads, using his head to motion toward Lexi as they are slowly lowered closer to the waters.

'Sorry Romeo! But there'll be no heroics tonight!' Tony chuckles darkly.

'Wanna bet doc!'

Tony and his armed henchmen whirl around to see Ace and the other four Loonatics facing them.

'Fire! Fire!' Tony shouts at his henchmen and points to the Loonatics.

The armed henchmen open fire at the five Loonatics, who all leap out of the way in different directions. Ace fires his eye lasers at two henchmen and knock their guns out of their hands. Duck conjures up two power orbs in his hands and tosses them at another two henchmen's faces, covering them with purple goo. Slam spins past three henchmen, knocking them over and their guns out of their hands. Rev whizzes around another three and swipes their guns quicker than the blink of an eye. Four men surround Tech and aim their guns at him. Tech raises his arms and twists their guns out of shape with his electromagnetic powers. While Ace and the others are engaged with Tony's henchmen, Romeo closes his eyes in concentration and once again converts himself into a gaseous form, slipping out of the ropes binding him. He drifts toward the crane controls and reforms himself into solid form again. He is looking for an off switch to the crane to rescue Lexi when one of the henchman charges at him and tries to fire at him. Romeo morphs into gas and the bullets pass right through him.

'Ace! Help!' Lexi calls. She is then submerged under water.

Ace runs to her rescue, diving into the river after her. Underwater, he swims to Lexi, who is apparently losing oxygen fast, and fires his eye lasers at the ropes binding her, successfully burning them loose. Then he grabs Lexi and pulls her up to the water's surface. He drags her back to land.

'Lex! Are you alright?' Ace asks Lexi concerned, but she does not reply. Ace then realises that she's not breathing. In a panic, he quickly starts administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to her, pushing down hard on her chest then pressing his lips onto hers to deliver breaths, then repeating the procedure again. The other Loonatics, having taken care of all Tony Vulgari's henchmen, rush over to Ace and Lexi. Lexi suddenly coughs deeply and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Ace helps her sit up.

'Man-Ace!-You-were-just-dying-to-do-that-weren't-you?' jokes Rev.

Ace and Lexi stare at Rev speechless first, then at each other. Small smiles creep across the bunnies' lips.

'So I guess this means you have two have 'kissed' and made up!' Tech teases.

Ace and Lexi both blush hard at this.

'Hold it right there you annoying Loonatics!'

The Loonatics turn around to see an angry-looking Tony Vulgari pointing a gun at them. From behind him a strange gas creeps around his face, infiltrating his airways through his nostrils and mouth. His eyelids droop and he suddenly collapses onto the ground, unconscious. The strange gas then materialises into Romeo Le Pew.

'I take it that was the other important thing you were wanting to tell me earlier then Romeo?' Lexi guesses.

'Oui madame! I too was changed after zhe big meteor hit last year. Please, do not let it get round. It would ruin my reputation in the public eye.'

'We won't tell a soul Romeo,' promises Ace, who then shakes the French skunk's hand firmly.

A few days later, Lexi meets Romeo again at the Acme Central Park.

Lexi's eyes fall as she faces Romeo. 'Romeo, I have a confession to make.'

Romeo looks at Lexi slightly puzzled.

Lexi continues, 'I…I only agreed to go out with you because I was feeling rejected. But….'

'There iz someone else?' Romeo Le Pew finishes for her, slight disappointment in his voice.

Lexi answers with uncertainty, 'Yes…no…I don't know…I mean, there's someone I care for deeply, but I don't know if we could ever….'

'You need say no more. I understand. Zhere iz someone else closer to your heart, but you are uncertain as to where you stand in his no?' Romeo analyses in a soft tone.

'Yes,' admits Lexi slightly surprised.

'Do not worry my little petit fleur! If you and he are destined for love, it vill happen in its own time. You cannot rush the growth of a beautiful rose!'

Lexi smiles. 'Thank you Romeo. You seem wise in matters of the heart.'

'Ah alas, my own heart has ached much before because ov love. Yet I remain hopeful zhat one day, I vill find true love!'

Lexi places her hand on top of Romeo's and with certainty says, 'I know you will Romeo!'

Lexi kisses Romeo Le Pew on the cheek and steps back. 'Goodbye Romeo,' Lexi says in a hushed tone.

With that, Lexi mounts her motorcycle on the roadside and puts on her driving helmet. Then she starts up the engine and drives away back toward HQs, leaving Romeo Le Pew waving goodbye behind her. Romeo, smiling to himself, glances for a few long seconds in the direction Lexi went, then he himself turns and walks the opposite way down the park path.

**Zhe End of Episode 2!**


	3. Chapter 3

Whew! Finally finished episode 3 here! Sorry to keep you readers waiting! But I was away on holiday in Canada for over a week, so you'll have to forgive me! Actually, I may not be able to update frequently after half way through this month, coz I'll be back studying again then. But I'll do what I can to keep working through this original Loonatics Unleashed season of mine, coz I have loads of episode ideas.

Thank you all once again for reading my stories and for the really encouraging feedback!

Anyway, this third episode features a new villain, Afterburn, and a new Looney Tunes hero, Speedy Gonzales The 8th! Enjoy!

**Episode 3: Lightspeed Chase**

At an Acmetropolis bank, after closing hours, a sleek, dark gold race car pulls up by one side of the building. A small missile launcher emerges out from the vehicle's back boot and sends two small rockets hurtling at the bank's wall. They blow a large hole through it. The tinted window top of the car flips open and a masked man in a yellow and brown racing jumpsuit leaps out. He runs through the hole he has just blown through the side of the bank, and enters into a hallway at the end of which is the metal door to the main safe deposit chamber. With a glint in his visible dark green eyes (his mask covers his whole face except for two holes around his eyes) he makes his way to the safe chamber door. He pulls out a detonator device from a pocket and sticks it onto the metal safe door. He is about to activate it when a fiery red blur whizzes past him and he is knocked to the floor. He raises his head to see the blur whiz back past the safe door and swipe his detonator off from it. The fiery blur of motion comes to an abrupt stop to reveal Rev Runner casually standing with a fist to his hip and the detonator bouncing up and down from his other upturned palm.

Rev jests with the robber, 'I-presume-you-weren't-going-to-do-anything-good-with-this-were-you-mister…?'

The jumpsuited man gets to his feet. 'You can call me "Afterburn". Sorry, I'd love to stay and chat but I gotta fly now.'

Afterburn turns to make an escape but is slammed onto the floor for the second time by a white streak zipping toward him. This time both he and Rev Runner are taken by surprise as the white streak halts suddenly to reveal a brown mouse anthropomorph in a white and yellow body suit and wearing a rather large Mexican sombrero hat on his head.

'Hello senors!' the mouse greets the two in a cheery Mexican accent, 'Senor Afterburn, I am afraid I cannot allow you to go free. Not after blowing a large hole through the wall of this bank and trying to rob eet you see.'

Afterburn gets to his feet again, eyeing the two apparent speedsters on either side of him. 'You guys are pretty fast on yer feet! We should have a race sometime. See who's the fastest.'

Suddenly, roller-skating wheels pop out from underneath Afterburn's boots and small jets propellers appear beside his ankles. He swishes past the road runner and Mexican mouse and jumps into his waiting race car outside. The window top shuts over him and the car starts up. Rev and the Mexican mouse both race to catch him, but they end up zooming into each other and tripping each other up. They land in a dazed and defeated heap on the floor. Afterburn's race car rumbles down into the main street and with the aid of jet-powered engines, he speeds away, a lightning flash to the naked eye.

Rev picks himself up off of the mouse in a frustrated manner. 'Afterburn-made-a-clean-getaway!-You-were-in-my-way-and-just-let-that-road-rager-get-away!'

'Mee!' the Mexican mouse retorts angrily, 'You tripped yourself over mee and now you blame mee for your mistake! I was only 'elping you stop that veelain and I could've caught 'im if you hadn't run eento me!'

'What!-I-never-asked-you-for-your-help-in-the-first-place-buddy!-Who-told-you-to-interfere-with-my-business-huh!'

'Gee, you're preety stuck up for a big-time superheero aren't you Senor Rev Runner!'

Rev is fuming by now. 'Just-who-the-heck-are-you-anyway-bub!'

'Speedy Gonzales The 8th Senor Runner! Thee Fastest Mouse een all Acmee Meexico!' the Mexican mouse replies in annoyance.

The opening sequence starts here.

Later, at Loonatics' HQs, Rev vents his frustrations about Speedy Gonzales to his team mates.

'I-mean-who-does-that-'Acmee-Meexeecan'-mouse-think-he-is!-Butting-in-on-my-fight-like-that!-Just-because-he-thinks-he's-faster-than-me!'

'Rev!' Ace attempts to get the road runner's attention.

'I-had-Afterburn-right-where-wanted-him.-Then-'he'-comes-along-and-trips-me-up-and-lets-Afterburn-get-away!' Rev continues to vent.

'Rev!' Ace once again tries to get his attention.

'Then-he-has-the-nerve-to-say-that-it-was-my-fault!'

'REV!' Ace finally shouts at the complaining road runner.

Rev stops talking in surprise at Ace raising his voice.

'I think we've hoid enough about this Speedy Gonzales The 8th Rev!' Ace states firmly.

'Now how about giving us some more useful information about "Afterburn" instead,' adds Tech.

'If I didn't know any better I'd say Rev was a little bothered about having some competition on the sprinting front,' Duck comments to Slam next to him.

'Yadagraarubi,' Slam garbles in agreement.

Rev overhearing Duck's comment hastily snaps, 'Bothered!-I'm-not-bothered-about-that-snappy-show-off-mouse!'

'Sure you're not,' Lexi responds sarcastically.

Tech repeats his earlier request in questions, 'What else can you tell us about Afterburn's technology? And his motives?'

'Well-aside-from-robbing-banks-he-obviously-loves-to-drive-at-dangerous-speeds.-And-he's-got-an-impressive-race-car-with-in-built-missle-launchers-and-it's-engines-are-jet-powered!' Rev informs Tech.

Suddenly, Zadavia appears on the hologram-projector.

'Eeh, what's up Zadavia?' Ace queries.

'Trouble Ace! A speeding maniac is endangering civilians on the roads of North Acmetropolis!' Zadavia informs, 'He's heading toward the Northern Acmetropolis bank branch.'

'Sounds-like-Afterburn,' Rev deducts.

'You need to get there pronto and stop this daredevil driver before he commits a robbery and hurts someone! Zadavia out!'

Zadavia's image disappears and the Loonatics turn to face one another.

'So I guess we take the Zoomatrix cycles then?' Lexi asks.

'Actually, I have something else in mind which might be more up to the task of chasing a speed demon,' Tech teases.

The scene moves to a garage hanger which houses Tech's many vehicle creations. The Loonatics are gathered around one particular bright red car.

'Introducing my Turbo-Accelerator-7500!' Tech beams proudly. 'Perfectly designed for high-speed pursuit! This baby is streamlined to slide easily through speeding air currents; she has plutonium photon-powered engines and jet thrusters which allow her to reach velocities of over 7500 miles per hour; and of course she's fitted with all the essential extras such as double missile launchers, laser guns, programmed self-repair systems, oil slick dispensers, tyre-puncturing spike throwers etc etc!'

'Nice work again Tech!' Ace nods in impressed satisfaction at the coyote's handiwork. 'Let's take 'er for a spin then shall we?'

Soon the Loonatics are on the road in their new wheels. Tech is driving, Rev is sitting next to him at the front, Ace and Lexi are behind them and Slam and Duck are behind the bunnies. They approach the Northern Acmetropolis bank building just in time to spot Afterburn loading a final stash of quasarlinium bars into the boot of his dark gold race car.

'That's-him!-That's-Afterburn!' Rev instantly identifies.

Noticing the Loonatics, Afterburn jumps into his car and takes off.

'You're not getting away that easy!' Tech exclaims and he slams his foot down on the gas pedal and pursues him. As the Loonatics are in hot pursuit of Afterburn, Lexi draws their attention to a white streak rapidly passing their car and approaching Afterburn's race car at amazing speed.

'What in the world is that!' Lexi exclaims at the sight of the speeding white streak.

'Speedy Gonzales!' Rev grits through his teeth.

'Whoah! Look at him go!' Duck exclaims in amazement, 'He's nearly as fast as you Rev! Maybe faster!'

Rev growls silently at Duck's comment.

'YEEHAH!' Speedy calls out as he speeds along.

Speedy's accelerating form soon overtakes the Loonatics' automobile and keeps pace beside Afterburn's race car.

'Well, looks like we got ourselves a little race here!' Afterburn announces through a loudspeaker device in his car so that all can hear, 'Let's see who really is the fastest in town!'

With that, Afterburn's dark gold race car picks up even more speed and it zooms past Speedy Gonzales, leaving him and the Loonatics far behind in his wake. Speedy also picks up his speed and darts after the rapidly diminishing form of Afterburn's race car.

'Tech!-We're-losing-'em!' exclaims Rev in a panicky tone.

'Switching to hyper drive mode!' Tech informs as he twists a protruding handle around 180º to his left.

The Turbo-Accelerator-7500's jet thrusters flare up and the vehicle dashes ahead. At the back seats, Danger Duck and Slam Tasmanian are pushed back deeply into the cushioning of their seats by the sudden force of the car's acceleration, and their eyes enlarge as they nearly pop out of mallard's and devil's heads.

'EEP! Not so fast Tech!' Duck cries out in fright as his face is further flattened against his seat cushioning.

'BLAARABAAHH!' Slam cries out in fright too as he grips onto his seat belt tightly for dear life.

Afterburn looks into his rear-view mirror at the approaching forms of Speedy Gonzales The 8th and the Loonatics' vehicle. He swerves around a sharp street corner in an attempt to throw off his pursuers, but Speedy keeps close to the race car and Tech just manages to avoid swerving out of control as he turns the Turbo-Accelerator around the sharp corner. Soon the Turbo-Accelerator overtakes Speedy Gonzales and catches up right beside Afterburn's race car.

'Pull over Afterburn! Before you get someone or yourself killed!' Tech orders through his vehicle's loudspeaker.

In response, Afterburn expertly slams the side of his race car into the side of the Loonatics' Turbo-Accelerator, knocking it off course. The Loonatics scream as the Turbo-Accelerator is sent hurtling sideways and it swerves, out of control, in circles off the road, finally crashing backward into a wall. Afterburn and Speedy whiz right past them. The Loonatics slowly crawl out of the smouldering wreckage.

'Everyone still in one piece?' Ace asks his team.

Lexi gives herself a quick body check. 'All pieces present and accounted for here!' she replies.

'Err guys! A little-ugh!-help here please!' Duck calls from a squashed position behind a large inflated airbag, which is pushing his face against his seat uncomfortably.

Slam grabs Duck's waving arm and yanks him loose of the constricting airbag.

'My beautiful Turbo-Accelerator-7500! Just look what that maniac did to my baby!' Tech wails mournfully. 'It'll be a while before I get her up and running again!'

Rev clenches his fists and grits his teeth in frustration. 'I'm going after them!' he declares and whizzes away as quick as a flash.

'Rev! Wait!' Ace calls, but to no avail.

Rev soon catches up with Afterburn and Speedy Gonzales again. They are racing across a bridge and zigzagging dangerously in and out between cars.

Rev runs up to Speedy. 'Back-off-Speedy!-This-nutcase-is-mine!-He's-too-dangerous-for-you!'

'Maybe you 'aven't heeard Senor Runner, but I have quite a heroeec reputation back home in Acme Meexico too!' Speedy retorts, 'I've faced my faieer share of nasty veellains too y'know!'

'Well-this-ain't-Acme-Mexico-buddy!-It's-Acmetropolis!-And-us-Loonatics-protect-this-region.-We-don't-need-any-extra-help-from-outsiders-so-just-leave-me-alone-to-do-my-job-will-ya!'

Suddenly the small missile launcher from earlier emerges from Afterburn's race car's boot. It fires off two rockets at Speedy and Rev and they attempt to dodge reflexively, but the rockets hit the ground just in front of them. The small explosions send them flying backwards and they hit the ground hard.

'Those who lose focus are lost! See ya later losers!' Afterburn laughs as he speeds away out of sight.

Rev and Speedy slowly pick themselves up, holding their painful heads and groaning.

'Great! Hee got aweey!' Speedy mutters in annoyance.

'Yeah!-Thanks-to-you-'Hot-Shot'!' Rev fires at Speedy, 'You-were-distracting-me-and-Afterburn-took-advantage-of-that-opportunity!'

'What! You blaming mee again!' Speedy angrily replies, 'What ees your problem Senor Runner!'

'My-problem-is-you!'

Rev and Speedy glare daggers at one another and take a provocative step toward each other when out of the blue, two thin lasers hit the ground between them, causing them to jump back in surprise. They look up to see Ace, who had fired the warning shot, and the other Loonatics descending to the ground with their jetpacks on.

'Enough!' Ace shouts at them, 'You two 'Hot Rods' need some cooling-off time!'

'Thanks-a lot-Speedy!-Now-you've-just-got-me-in-trouble-as-well!-Swell!' Rev complains with vehemence at Speedy.

'You got yourseelf in trouble amigo!' Speedy retorts. 'I haven't done anything wrong heere! Other than try to stop that road menace!'

'You-think-you're-really-great-don't-ya-Speedy!-Well-let-me-tell-you-somethin'-pal!...'

'Quiet!' Ace barks at a surprised Speedy and Rev, pointing a finger at them both, 'As far as I can see, you're 'both' to blame for letting a dangerous speed-addicted criminal escape with no doubt a large amount of valuable quasarlinium!'

'Obviously too busy arguing with each other!' Lexi contributes in an unimpressed manner.

Rev and Speedy bow their heads in shame, then glance awkwardly at each other.

'Maybe I was a leettle impulsive to chase after Afterburn on my own. I diidn't really think whether I might be interfering wiith your job…' Speedy admits.

'No,' Rev sighs, 'I-'was'-acting-rather-like-a-jerk-to-you.-Blaming-you-for-everything-and-getting-mad-at-you-for-no-good-reason-and-all.-I-guess-I-was-feeling-a-little-competitive-toward-you-coz-I-really-don't-see-that-many-other-quicksters-around-alot.-I'm-sorry,-can-you-forgive-me?'

'Apology accepted amigo!' Speedy brightly chirps. 'And I'll help you and your amigos here in any way that you'd like me to in future!'

'Good to know Speedy!' Ace responds in a pleased manner, 'We could probably use a little extra help now to catch Afterburn.'

'So how are we gonna do that?' Lexi queries, 'The guy moves like lightning when he's in his race car!'

'Afterburn has the upper hand on the road. We need to find a way to disable his vehicle and get him out of it,' Tech declares, 'And I have a plan to do just that!'

Commercial break here.

On TV, a big race between Speedy Gonzales the 8th and Rev Runner is being broadcasted across Acmetropolis. A male sports reporter is commentating on the event.

'This is Chris Connor reporting at 'the' race of the century! The world's two fastest beings will be competing to earn the title of the fastest creature alive today! The fiery, road-burning, avian quickster of Acmetropolis' greatest superhero team the Loonatics, is to race against Acme Mexico's own super rodent accelerator. Yes viewers, it's the road runner Rev Runner versus the speeding mouse Speedy Gonzales The 8th! Needless to say, the atmosphere here at the race course is electric! Supporters of both Rev Runner and Speedy Gonzales have turned out in force to watch their heroes run! Rev and Speedy will be running across nearly half of Acmetropolis to reach the finish line over in the far Northern quadrant of the city! A challenge for normal runners, but not for super speeders like Rev Runner and Speedy Gonzales!'

Rev and Speedy walk up to the start line of their race course, waving at cheering fans on either side of them.

'You really think this plan ees going to work?' Speedy asks Rev in a low tone as they wave at fans.

'Absolutely!-My-pal-Tech-is-the-smartest-guy-ever!-His-ideas-rarely-fail!-And-this-plan-will-be-no-exception!-You'll-see!' Rev enthusiastically answers.

Rev raises his wrist communicator to his face and contacts Tech. 'Tech,-we're-about-to-start-any-minute-now.-You-and-the-others-know-what-to-do-right?'

Over toward the far North of Acmetropolis, Tech replies Rev through his wrist communicator. 'Don't worry Rev! We'll be ready and waiting for you, Speedy and our other expected 'guest' when you reach our position. Just keep us updated on your progress through the race course.'

'Will-do-Tech!-Rev-out!' Rev turns off his wrist communicator and readies himself to start the race.

'Racers take your positions!' shouts an official as he raises a gun toward the sky. 'On your marks, get set, GO!'

The gun goes off with a loud bang and Rev and Speedy dash off, leaving a smoke trail behind them.

'Eat my dust Senor Runner!' Speedy shouts in friendly competition to Rev.

'Dream-on-Speedy!' Rev shouts back with a grin.

Rev and Speedy run for a short while before suddenly, a familiar dark gold race car barges in between them.

'Move over fellas! Afterburn's gonna prove to the world that he's the fastest guy around!' Afterburn shouts at the pair.

Speedy and Rev look at each other and nod their heads in acknowledgement.

Rev speaks into his wrist communicator again. 'Tech!-Our-target's-taken-the-bait!-He's-here!-Get-ready!'

Over on Tech's side, 'Got'cha Rev! We're on standby!'

Tech contacts Ace and the other Loonatics. 'Guys, the target's been sighted! He's on his way! Get into your positions as I instructed and await your cues!'

'Right Tech! Just as you planned!' Ace confirms back.

Tech looks down at the road in front of him where a line of metal spikes lay across it.

'Alright Afterburn! This is payback for wrecking my Turbo-Accelerator-7500!' he says to himself.

He turns his head to his left side as he hears the distant sound of a roaring engine and thundering feet approaching. Quickly, he waves a hand signal at Duck 200 yards away to his right. Duck responds to him with a thumbs up. Tech turns back in anticipation to face the fast approaching forms of Rev, Speedy and Afterburn. Rev and Speedy leap over Tech's line of metal spikes and as Afterburn follows behind them, his car's tires are instantly punctured by Tech's road spikes.

'What the…?' Afterburn cries in surprise.

The damaged rubber of Afterburn's car's wheels peel away, leaving the bare metal underneath to scrape along the concrete road. Sparks fly from the metal wheels' screeching contact with the road surface. Afterburn cries out in alarm as the car jerks uncontrollably from side to side. Tech sends out a beam of his electromagnetic energy onto Afterburn's race car, and pulls his arms backward in a strained attempt to slow down the vehicle.

'Duck! Egg him now!' Tech bellows at the mallard some distance away.

Duck leaps into the air and tosses two tar eggs at Afterburn's front screen, effectively cutting off the mad driver's vision of his surroundings.

'I can't see!' Afterburn cries out as his screen goes black.

'We're up Lex!' Ace shouts to Lexi further up the road from Duck.

Ace and Lexi, from opposite sides of the road, fire their optic lasers and brain blasts respectively at Afterburn's screeching front metal wheels, knocking them right off the car completely. The dark gold race car's front bonnet slams down onto the road, and the whole vehicle screeches loudly as it scratches along the concrete surface.

'Your turn Slam!' Ace shouts to Slam just ahead of them.

'YABALAARUGAHH!' Slam shouts back in eager response.

As Afterburn's race car screeches to Slam's position, the Tasmanian devil leaps right in front of it and brings his giant fists down on the bonnet, crushing the car to a complete stop. The other Loonatics, including Rev and Speedy, run or fly to Slam's position just as a dazed Afterburn crawls out of his completely battered vehicle.

'Good work everyone!' Ace commends his team.

'Nobody off-roads Afterburn!' Afterburn cries in fury.

He suddenly stands and activates his jet-powered roller boots. He pushes past the gathered Loonatics to their surprise and attempts to make a speedy get away from them. Rev and Speedy briefly glance at one another and then both rush off after Afterburn. Afterburn looks behind himself at the Loonatics and smirks as he momentarily thinks he's escaped their clutches. He turns his face back in front of himself only to see Rev's and Speedy's fast approaching fists coming right at his face. Afterburn is knocked out cold and he falls to the ground at their feet.

'And that's a wrap!' Speedy triumphantly proclaims.

Later, Afterburn is lead into a police car with advanced-looking handcuffs around his hands, and he is bare-footed as his jet-powered boots have been removed. The Loonatics watch him as he glumly gets into the back of the police car.

'I don't think he'll be causing havoc on the roads again any time soon,' Lexi comments.

'Good! I don't think I could take another of Tech's wild drives around the city!' Duck exclaims in relief.

Tech glares in annoyance at the mallard.

'Well amigos, it's been fun! I'll have a lot to tell my family about my first meeting with the iinfamous Loonatics of Acmetropolis when I get back home to Acme Meexico!' Speedy says cheerfully, 'Especially about you Senor Runner! You'd be a hiit with the ladies back iin Acme Meexico! They love fast guys you see!'

'Thanks-Speedy!' Rev responds warmly, 'You're-an-okay-guy-actually.-I'm-sorry-I-was-hostile-to-you-to-start-with.'

'Ees okay Senor Runner! True friendship involves overcoming disagreements I always say. So are we…friends?' Speedy reaches out an open hand to Rev.

Rev smiles and shakes Speedy's hand firmly. 'Yes,-we're-friends-alright!'

'If you and your amigos ever need an eextra hand for some iimportant miission, give mee a call! And I'll come runnin', liiterally!'

'Much appreciated there Speedy,' Ace says in thanks and shaking Speedy's hand as well, 'But I bet you got yer hands full enough with protecting people in Acme Mexico.'

'That ees true Senor Bunny! But I think I can always make some time for frieends,' Speedy assures.

'Say-Speedy!-We-never-finished-our-race!-What-d'ya-say-we-complete-it-and-find-out-who-really-is-the-fastest-one-of-all?' Rev proposes with a gleam in his eyes.

'You're on amigo!' Speedy confidently replies.

Rev and Speedy bend down near to the ground, readying themselves to run off again.

Tech raises a hand above his head. 'On you marks, get set, GO!'

Tech's hand drops and Rev and Speedy take off at their super speeds once again, leaving a trail of thick smoke in their wake.

**The Eeend of Episode 3!**


	4. Chapter 4

I had intended this story to be just one episode, but I ended up realising that trying to cram all the events into one episode would not have done this story justice, so I've made it into a 2-parter set of episodes! Part 2 will come next in the form of episode 5! I hope what I've written will continue to please my readers old and new out there.

It may be a quite long while now before I can write up my next episode story after episode 5, because I'm returning back to university studies now and that will no doubt take up most of my time sadly. So don't expect regular updates from now on folks!

On the bright side, this 2-parter story should be a treat for Danger Duck and Marvin the Martian fans! And the other Loonatics get their hands dirty in some serious fighting! This 2-parter story also will link in with the "Duck Dodgers" cartoon series and refer back to the old Looney Tunes a little at the end! A Gossamer creature and another version of Roboto (from Duck Dodgers) will make an appearance as well! So please, enjoy! And let me know what you think!

**Episode 4: Gladiators – Part 1**

At Loonatics HQs, in the combat practice room, Slam Tasmanian and Danger Duck are facing off against each other in a free-sparring match. They cautiously walk in a circle facing opposite to one another, each waiting for the other to make a move. Ace, Lexi and Rev watch them from the sides of the room.

'C'mon Slam! Let's see what ya got!' Duck taunts Slam.

'Rugalalajuwah!' Slam challenges Duck back to make the first move.

'Alright, you asked for it!'

Duck leaps up into the air and conjures up two of his power orbs, then throws them at the floor in front of Slam. As they hit the ground, smoke rises, blocking Slam's view of the duck. Duck takes this opportunity to teleport himself right behind Slam in order to attempt a surprise attack. As he materialises behind the Tasmanian devil, he launches himself at him with a flying side kick. His foot hits its target, Slam's back, but Slam's body doesn't even budge, and instead, Duck finds himself bouncing right off it and landing in a splat on the floor. Slam turns around and only just then notices Duck is behind him.

'Nugarahwudah okay?' Slam asks Duck in a worried manner as he picks him up off the floor.

'Fine!' Duck answers in defeated pride, 'I'm just fine!'

'Eeehh, good try Duck,' Ace says in mock praise.

Duck grumbles something at the leader's remark.

Tech enters the combat practice room at that point, carrying a new invention of his in his hands. He has a pleased expression on his face as he looks down at his new glove-shaped, metal-plated gadget.

'So-what's-new-Tech-ole'-pal?-What'cha-got-there-in-yer-hands?' Rev curiously asks.

'This Rev,' Tech holds up his invention for all to see, 'is my new "Techno-gauntlet"! A little something I've been working on for the past few weeks to aid me on the battlefield! It performs various functions…'

Suddenly, Tech is interrupted by an emergency alert call from Zadavia. Her hologram image is projected in the combat room.

'Loonatics, I have something for you that may be a potential problem,' Zadavia informs. 'My sensors have been picking up strange alien signals from space, originating from near our planet. So far, I have been unable to decipher these foreign messages. I have no idea whether they may possibly be distress calls from an alien race, or warnings of danger of some kind. I need you all to travel off-planet once again and investigate the source and meaning of these mysterious alien signals.'

'Travel into space again!' Duck complains, 'Do we have to? Something bad always seems to happen when we go up there!'

'Yes Duck! I need you to get up there and take a look around!' Zadavia replies in a firm manner.

'We're on it Zadavia!' Ace affirms.

Opening sequence starts here.

The Loonatics are in space. They are riding in a saucer-shaped spaceship, an updated model of Tech's "Space Dream 8000" (from "The Comet Cometh" episode!). Tech is at the main driving controls and he is wearing his "techno-gauntlet" over his right hand.

'Good thing I just updated my Space Dream 8000 interstellar traveller!' Tech remarks, 'This Space Dream 8000 version 2 is a vast improvement over its first design!'

'Yeah, it doesn't seem to be jolting as much as before!' Duck quips.

Rev turns round from a perimeter-scanner screen.

'Tech,-I've-been-trying-to-track-the-alien-signals-to-their-source-but-I-can't-seem-to-get-a-fix-on-them.-They-seem-to-be-coming-from, well,-everywhere!-All-around-us!-Like-they're-part-of-the-atmosphere-or-something!' he informs in puzzlement.

'But I don't see anything out there,' Lexi comments as she looks through the ship's window.

'Peculiar,' Tech agrees, 'That can't be right! There can't be signals originating from every direction! Unless…someone's scrambling our sensors!'

As soon as Tech reaches this realisation, a larger spaceship suddenly appears right in front of them out of nowhere.

'Where the heck did that come from!' Ace shouts in surprise.

'It must have had some kind of cloaking shield around it!' Tech realises out loud.

The larger spaceship then produces guns from its hull and they align themselves to target the Space Dream 8000 v.2. The face of a reptilian lizard-like alien appears on the Loonatics' video screens.

'We are The Urrocks! And we are hereby taking over your space craft!' the reptilian alien on the screens says, 'Our weapons are trained on your ship Acmetopians! If you wish to remain unharmed, you will surrender to us without incident and co-operate with our demands!'

'Err, can we think on that for a minute?' Ace quickly replies. 'Tech, get us outta here!'

Tech reverses the Space Dream 8000 v.2 away from the Urrock space ship in a sudden surge of speed. The Urrock ship gives chase and opens fire at them. The Loonatics hang on to hard edges as their ship is rocked by a shower of lasers.

'They're attacking us! They're attacking us!' Duck cries out in alarm.

'Activating force-shield!' Tech informs as he pushes a few buttons on his control panel.

The Space Dream 8000 is instantly encased by a transparent energy shield, but it still shakes violently from the lasers' impacts on it.

'The shield's not gonna hold under this kind of pressure!' Tech warns.

The force-shield crumbles under the Urrocks' lasers and the Space Dream's engines fail when the lasers hit them. The Urrock spaceship then sends out a tractor-bean, slowly pulling the Space Dream 8000 toward it.

'They've-caught-us-in-some-kind-of-tractor-beam-and-are-pulling-us-right-to-them!' Rev informs in a panic.

'Loonatics, get to the escape pods! Now!' Ace commands.

A connecting bridge tunnel emerges from the Urrock ship. It attaches itself to the Space Dream 8000's surface when the tractor-beam pulls it within reaching range. Some of the Urrock aliens pass through the bridging tunnel into the Loonatics' spaceship. The Loonatics leave the control room and rush to the escape pod chamber. But to their dismay, they are met by the invading Urrock crew upon reaching the doors to the escape chamber. The Urrocks lower crackling staff-like weapons at the Loonatics.

'You're not going anywhere Acmetopians!' proclaims one Urrock.

'Wanna bet!' Ace shouts.

He laser-blasts one of the Urrocks, knocking him over. But as soon as he does this, the other Urrocks fire energy balls of some kind from their staffs at the Loonatics, before they have a chance to react. The energy balls expand to encompass each of the Loonatics upon hitting them, creating circular prisons for them. The Loonatics attempt unsuccessfully to break free of their energy ball prisons, except for Duck who manages to 'quack' himself out of his. He reappears outside of his energy ball prison.

'Whoah! I'm outta here!' Duck cries as he spots the Urrocks heading to try and recapture him again.

He teleports himself once again, this time completely disappearing from everyone's sight.

'The duck has disappeared!' says one Urrock in irritation.

'No matter. We have these five left,' replies another, 'They look like they can put up a decent fight! They should be enough to satisfy Lord Zorak's demands for now!'

The Urrocks drag away the five remaining imprisoned Loonatics with them back to their spaceship. The Loonatics cast each other worried glances through their energy ball prisons.

'Where did Duck go?' Lexi asks in a low tone, 'He just left us!'

Meanwhile, unknown to them and the Urrocks, Danger Duck has teleported himself into the escape pod chamber and has taken an escape pod to flee the captured Space Dream 8000. His pod slips away unnoticed.

'I've gotta get back to Acmetropolis and get help!' Duck tells himself within the narrow confines of his escape pod. 'Now if I could just figure out how to steer this darn thing back homeward!'

Duck uncertainly pushes a few buttons, flips a few switches and toggles at what appears to be a steering stick. To his dismay, the words "New directional course set: Mars" appears on the screen in front of him. His pod jets away from Acmetropolis and instead heads to some other unknown direction through space. He screams in absolute terror as he is taken to a location he had not intended on travelling to.

Back with the Urrocks, the five captive Loonatics are taken to a giant space coliseum dome structure. They are pulled out of their captors' spaceship and are imprisoned in clear rectangular containment vessels within a small room. Through a clear screen wall in front of them, they see that they are being held above the grounds of a massive fight arena with hundreds of loud alien spectators seated around it.

'I don't like the looks of this!' Lexi comments worriedly. 'Where are we?'

An Urrock, dressed in more elaborate roman-themed gold armour and a long, dark purple cloak, rises from a high chair in a small balcony located just above the audience circle.

'Ladies and gentlemen from all corners of the universe, I, Lord Zorak, leader of the Urrock space hunters, welcome you to the Intergalactic Duelling Coliseum!' announces the high-status dressed Urrock.

'That's where we are,' Ace says in answer to Lexi's question.

Commercial break here.

Suddenly, Ace's containment vessel slips down into a hole that opens up beneath it in the floor. He is transferred through a dark tunnel from the small room to the grounds of the fight arena, popping up at the destination from below ground level. Ace looks around himself at the arena surroundings in bewilderment.

'The Coliseum is the only place in the universe where we pit inhabitants of different planets against one another in mortal combat for your entertainment! And for today's first match-up fight, we have our old favourite hairy orange monster, 'Gossamer', against a new contender, 'Hellraiser Hare'!' announces Lord Zorak.

A cheer erupts from the crowds. Ace pulls a confused face.

'Hellraiser Hare!' he exclaims in confusion, 'That's an insult doc!'

From the opposite side to Ace, the hairy orange monster, 'Gossamer', emerges from the ground. He roars a fearsome roar at the sight of Ace.

'Eehh, you look familiar doc! Do I know you from somewhere…or sometime?' Ace politely asks Gossamer.

The larger Gossamer roars again in Ace's face in response.

'Let the fight…BEGIN!' Lord Zorak announces aloud.

Gossamer lunges at Ace. The other captive Loonatics gasp from above in their containment vessels.

'Ace!' Lexi cries in fear for him.

Gossamer scoops up a surprised Ace in his strong arms and starts squeezing his body in a crushing power hug. Ace struggles to free himself, but Gossamer's hold is unbreakable.

'Ugh! Y'know I like a friendly hug as much as the next person, but yours is a little too 'friendly'!' Ace manages to quip at Gossamer.

Ace then fires his optic lasers at Gosamer's face. Gossamer immediately drops Ace and brings his large hairy hands to his burnt, frazzled face, roaring in anger. Ace then drops to a crouch and swings a leg at Gossamer's, sweeping the orange monster's legs out from under him. Gossamer falls over and as soon as he is flat on the ground, Ace leaps on top of him and brings his fist above the hairy monster's face. He brings his fist down hard on Gossamer's face, knocking the monster out cold.

'And the winner is: Hellraiser Hare!' announces Lord Zorak.

The alien crowds cheer loudly again. Ace finds himself imprisoned again in his containment vessel and he is moved back to the small holding room where the other Loonatics are.

'Ace-are-you-alright!-That-was-a-close-call-you-had-there!' Rev asks in concern.

'Yeah I'm okay Rev, but we gotta figure a way outta this joint!' Ace replies.

'Before one of us doesn't make it out of their fight in one piece!' Lexi adds gravely.

'Hopefully Duck will make it back to Acmetropolis, report to Zadavia what happened to us, round up some help and track us down again!' Tech optimistically predicts.

Ace, Lexi, Rev and Slam all look at Tech in disbelief.

'Are you kidding Tech! If we have to rely on Duck to rescue us, then we're DOOMED!' Ace exclaims.

'Hey I was just trying to be optimistic!' Tech replies defensively.

Suddenly Lexi is brought to the fight arena next as Lord Zorak announces the next fight match-up.

'Next we pit two fearsome beauties upon one another! It's the warrior woman of Amazonia, 'Furie', against our next new contender, 'Ravishing Rabbit'!'

'What did he just call me!' Lexi questions in annoyance.

Before Lexi has a chance to say anything else, Furie, a Greek Amazon-like warrior woman, draws a long sword from a silver girdle and charges at Lexi. Lexi somersaults out of her way and launches a brain-blast at her whilst in the air. But the Amazonian raises her sword and deflects Lexi's brain-blast back at her. The reflected brain-blast strikes Lexi in the stomach, and she falls to the ground hard, landing on her side. She clutches her painful belly and tries to get up, but Furie then strides up to her and picks her up by her long ears. Furie then hauls her up with inhuman strength and spins her round in circles. Lexi cries out helplessly. Finally, Furie lets go of Lexi's ears and she goes flying into the wall surrounding the arena. She slumps onto the ground unconscious. Furie raises her arms up in victory and lets out a battle cry. The spectators cheer once again.

'LEXI!' Ace screams in shock from the holding room.

'And the winner is: Furie!' Lord Zorak's echoing voice rings.

Lexi's unconscious body is brought back to the holding room in her containment vessel. Then Slam is transferred to the fight arena next.

'Now we will match slime against muscles as 'Oozer', the slimy sludge slug, faces off with our third new contender, 'The Tasmanian Terror'!' Lord Zorak announces.

'Agabaturubah!' Slam blabs in anticipation.

Slam sees a giant slug alien that oozes acidic slime from its body facing him.

'Let the third fight…BEGIN!'

Oozer opens a large sticky-looking mouth and spits a blob of corrosive acid slime at Slam. Slam instantly twists himself into a tornado and deflects the acid slime spit away. He then whirls right over to Oozer and sucks him into his tornado. The giant slug spins dizzily in Slam's whirlwind and lands with a thud to the ground when Slam abruptly stops spinning.

'The Tasmanian Terror wins!'

Slam grins with glee at his victory as he is taken back to the holding room in his containment vessel.

'Well-at-least-Slam-seems-to-be-getting-a-thrill-from-being-forced-to-fight!' Rev observes.

Rev is then taken to the fight arena.

'Now we introduce the Aviathan aerial wonder, 'Icawren', against our fourth new contender, 'Racing Pheonix'!'

Rev finds himself facing a turquoise-suited, tanned-skinned man with light blue gloves and boots. As soon as Zorak starts their fight, Icawren takes to the air and light blue energy globules glow in his hands as he flies towards Rev's position. Rev dashes out of the way as the flying man fires a volley of exploding energy globules down at him. Rev speedily dodges in and out of the rain of energy balls. Then as soon as he gets the chance, Rev launches himself into the air too, extending his fiery wings and flying straight for Icawren. Icawren flies straight for the road runner as well. The two flyers speed through the air in a direct crash course for one another. They collide in an explosive clash which ends with Rev tumbling out of the air and down toward the ground. He crashes into the ground hard, leaving an imprint and knocked out cold.

'Icawren is the winner!'

As the alien crowds cheer once again, Rev's shallow-breathing form is taken out of the arena and back to the holding room.

'NO! REV!' Tech cries upon sight of his battered friend.

And before he can say anything more, Tech is transferred to the fight arena.

'For our fifth round, we'll be throwing 'Roboto version 10.5' and our last new contender, 'Crazy Canine', at each other's necks!'

'I'll give them crazy alright!' Tech mutters angrily.

A stocky wheeled robot with extending arms appears in front of Tech. Tech tightens his right hand into a fist and the techno-gauntlet around it extends further up his arm, encasing his whole right arm, just past his shoulder, in silver metal plates like medieval armour. Zorak begins the fight. A machine gun emerges from Roboto's shoulder and it starts firing rounds of bullets at Tech. Tech lifts up his armoured right arm and a series of metal plates that form themselves into a wide-spanning circular shield, emerges from his gauntlet. The shield protects Tech from the continuous stream of bullets. Roboto starts wheeling forward toward Tech, not letting up with its machine gun fire. From behind the protection of his shield, Tech pulls out two short, sharp stinger blades from somewhere along his techno-gauntlet, grasping them between the fingers of his left hand. He then rolls to one side, out of Roboto's line of fire, and throws the stinger blades at the robot. The blades implant themselves through Roboto's metal head and emit a crackling short-circuiting current. A second later, Roboto's head explodes and is sent flying right off its stocky metal body, landing with a hollow clonk on the ground.

'Crazy Canine is the victor!'

Meanwhile, on another side of the vast expanse that is space, Danger Duck is frantically pushing buttons on his escape pod's control panel in a vain attempt to redirect the pod's course away from the planet Mars. His pod enters the Red Planet's atmosphere and starts burning up.

'Ooo! Oww! Hot! Hot!' Duck gasps as his pod starts turning red hot.

Duck's escape pod crash lands on some barren wasteland part of Mars. Duck wobbly steps out of his wrecked pod.

'Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing!' he splutters dizzily.

With that, Duck collapses exhausted onto the red sands beneath his feet. But then suddenly, a circle of particle guns is aimed at his head. Duck sits up startled and looks around himself. He sees a troop of black-faced, Roman-style-armoured Martian soldiers holding the particle guns to his face.

'Eerrr…I come in peace?' Duck meekly croaks as his pupils dart from gun point to gun point fearfully.

'We will let our Queen and Head Commander determine whether that is true outworlder!' one Martian soldier states firmly.

Duck swallows hard. 'Well y'see fellas, I kinda have an emergency on my hands and am in somewhat of a rush to get off this planet, so if you don't mind…'

The Martian soldiers push their guns closer to Duck's petrified face.

Duck gulps. 'Well I see reasoning isn't going to work with you gentlemen, sooo…'

Duck teleports himself out of the ring of particle guns and outside of the group of Martian soldiers. Then he starts running away from them screaming loudly. The Martian soldiers pursue him, guns blazing.

Back at the Intergalactic Duelling Coliseum, Slam is fighting Furie, the Amazonian warrior woman, in his second match. Up in their holding room, Ace looks on helplessly at his friends from behind the transparent walls of his containment vessel. Lexi has regained consciousness and is sitting tiredly with her back slumped on the wall of her vessel for support. Rev slowly opens his eyes, sits up on his knees and rubs his head with a hand. Tech is squatting down on all fours and is busy tampering with some electronics at the base of his containment vessel in an attempt to find a way of opening it up. He finally gives up and grunts in frustration, banging his fist on the vessel's wall angrily.

'Ruugh! I can't open up this thing! This alien technology is too foreign! I'd need time to study it more in depth! And time we don't have!' Tech yells.

'Easy Tech!' Ace tries to soothe the green coyote. 'Getting angry ain't gonna help any of us outta this situation! We need you to keep a cool head!'

Tech puts his fingers to his temples and takes in a few deep breaths. 'You're right Chief. I'm sorry. But Lexi and Rev have sustained injuries from their battles and it may not be long before one of us is put out of our misery, permanently!' Tech states pessimistically, 'We can't keep on fighting like this!'

Suddenly, Ace, Lexi, Rev and Tech see Slam thrown into the arena wall by Furie. Then being punched mercilessly by her crushing fists. He slumps down onto the ground defeated.

'Oh no! Not Slam too!' Lexi gasps.

**To be continued…**

**The End of Episode 4!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Episode 5: Gladiators – Part 2**

**Last time, on episode 4 of Loonatics Unleashed**: The Loonatics flew into space to investigate a mysterious alien signal detected by Zadavia. But they were ambushed by a race of alien space hunters called the Urrocks. Ace, Lexi, Slam, Rev and Tech were captured and taken to the Intergalactic Duelling Coliseum, whilst Duck managed to escape via an escape pod which unexpectedly took a route to Mars. The captured Loonatics have been forced to fight alien adversaries in deadly combat matches by the Urrock leader Lord Zorak. Lexi, Rev and eventually Slam were defeated by their alien opponents, whilst Ace and Tech are to move on to semi-final matches. Meanwhile, Duck crash lands on Mars and is found by a troop of Martian soldiers.

Opening sequence starts here after the previous episode recap.

Slam is taken out of the fight arena and Tech finds himself taking his place. Furie is replaced by Icawren, the flying, energy-globule generating man.

'For a place in the big finals, 'Crazy Canine' will face 'Icawren'!' Zorak announces to the crowds. 'Let the battle…BEGIN!'

'Keep-it-together-Tech-ole'-buddy!' Rev weakly encourages from up in the holding room as he, Ace, Lexi and a bruised Slam look on at their coyote friend.

Icawren once again takes to the air above Tech. Tech activates his techno-gauntlet's metal shield again too as soon as he sees Icawren's hands glowing. Icawren lets loose another volley of exploding energy balls. The impact of the globules on Tech's shield pushes him backward through the ground, but he doesn't lose his balance as he keeps a firm grounding stance with his legs. He then pulls out a small tear gas bomb from his gauntlet and chucks it in Icawren's direction. Icawren moves easily to the side and the small bomb passes by his head.

'Hah! You missed mutt!' Icawren gloats.

Tech smiles. 'Wait for it…'

The tear gas bomb explodes and a thick cloud of tear gas envelopes Icawren. He squeezes his stinging eyes shut and coughs uncontrollably. Tech takes the opportunity and sends out two extending metallic tentacles from his techno-gauntlet at the levitating man. The tentacles wrap themselves around Icawren's ankles and an electric charge travels up them into Icawren's vulnerable body. Icawren cries out in pain and shock as the electricity passes through him. Tech then drags him down with a hard pull and slams him into the ground, once, twice, and finally three times before stopping. Icawren lies battered and unable to move on the ground when Tech has finished. Tech hunches over and pants heavily in exhaustion.

'That was for beating up my friend Rev!' Tech weakly pants.

Back at Mars, Danger Duck has finally been captured by the troop of Martian soldiers. He finds himself dragged into a grand Martian palace and thrown at the feet of the slender, white-haired and revealingly-dressed Martian Queen and her Head Martian Commander Marvin/X-2 (Both Martian characters from the "Duck Dodgers in the 24 ½ Century" cartoon series for those of you that don't know!). Marvin is now taller and slightly more well-built than he was before, but he still wears a roman-styled helmet and armoured 'skirt'.

'Your Highness! Commander!' one Martian soldier reports, 'We found this dangerous outworlder in the Western Wastelands. He flew a strange, threatening craft into our soils, resisted arrest and attempted to kill us!'

'Look! This is all some terrible misunderstanding! I'd never come here to harm, spy or sabotage you Martians! I'm harmless I tell you! HARMLESS!' Duck splutters in a cowardly fashion.

'Harmless!' another of the Martian soldiers cries in disbelief, 'You threw fireballs, tar balls, sticky gooey balls and orange juice at us!'

Duck lets out a nervous little laugh.

The Martian Queen and Marvin, the Commander, stare wide-eyed at Danger Duck's kneeling and pathetically pleading form.

'Duck Dodgers?!' they both exclaim in unison.

Duck stops pleading his innocence abruptly upon hearing this and stares at them dumbfounded.

'Duck who?!' he asks.

'You're still alive after all these centuries?!' Marvin exclaims incredulously.

'You truly must be a great hero for the Earth Protectorate to have found a way to preserve you up to this day!' the Martian Queen concludes admiringly at Danger Duck.

The troop of Martian soldiers look at one another in confusion at what is being said and shrug their shoulders.

Duck blinks stupidly at the Martian Queen and Marvin. 'Yeah I'm a great hero alright! But look, I think you guys are obviously confusing me with my Great Great Great Grandfather. I'm Danger Duck from Acmetropolis and…'

'Danger Duck?! So now you've been re-named with a more fitting, adventurous title along with that stylish superhero outfit you're currently wearing?' the Martian Queen questions.

'Yes, I mean no!' Duck stutters quickly.

The Martian Queen arises from her throne and sweeps Danger Duck up in her embrace.

'Oh Dodgers! How I've missed our heated conflicts and trials of combat and wit!' she exclaims lovingly to the surprised mallard, 'And how you always impressively bested all our attempts to thwart you!'

'Oh brother!' Marvin mutters rolling his eyes.

'Look Martian lady! You're very attractive and all, but I really think you ought to know, I'M NOT DUCK DODGERS!' Duck screams in protest.

The Martian Queen and Marvin blink in confusion at Danger Duck.

'My ancestor,' Duck explains, 'was Daffy Duck, later known as Duck Dodgers in the 24 ½ century! I'm just his descendent! I'm Danger Duck!'

The Martian Queen and Marvin look at each other, then back at Danger Duck.

'How uncanny! He's the spitting image of Dodgers!' Marvin comments in amazement.

'Okay enough with the comparisons! Listen, my team mates have been captured by these gruesome lizard aliens calling themselves the Urrocks and I need help to rescue them!' Duck interjects.

'The Urrocks?!' repeats Marvin seriously, 'That is serious! Your comrades are in trouble!'

'Duh!' Duck responds with annoyance.

'The Urrocks are a race of savage space hunters! Us Martians have been in conflict with their leader, Lord Zorak, for many of your years!' the Martian Queen explains.

'They catch specimen life-forms from different planets across the galaxy. Then bring them back to their Intergalactic Duelling Coliseum for brutal gladiatorial combat matches!' Marvin continues.

'So can you help me out or not?' Duck asks impatiently.

'We had made strategic plans to take out the Urrocks at a later date, but perhaps we could fast track our plans a bit. Just for you, umm, 'Danger Duck',' Marvin says in a considering manner.

'In respect of your great ancestor!' the Martian Queen adds.

'Men! Ready the battleships! Prepare our forces for a pre-emptive strike on the Urrock Duelling Coliseum!' Marvin orders to his Martian troops.

'Right away Sir!' the Martian troops respond obediently.

Back at the Coliseum fight arena, Ace is facing off against Furie in the last semi-final match. Both he and the Amazonian have pulled out their swords and are clashing blades with one another.

'You are tougher than your other two compatriots,' Furie begins to Ace.

She kicks Ace back with a foot push to his stomach. Ace stumbles back a few steps.

'But not tough enough!' Furie finishes.

She charges toward Ace, but Ace side-steps her and catches her in the face with a spinning-back kick. She is knocked to the ground and clutches her bleeding nose. Ace takes this opportunity to pick her up by an arm and perform a judo throw, tossing her over his shoulder and slamming her onto the ground in front of him.

'Normally I'd be more gentle with a lady,' Ace remarks, 'but you are most definitely no lady!'

He then grabs one of Furie's legs, secures it between both his legs and begins twisting her foot in a circular motion with his hands in a painful wrestling move. Furie cries out in pain. It isn't long before she gives up.

'I give! I give!' she shouts painfully as Ace is on the verge of snapping her ankle.

'Hellraiser Hare moves to the finals!' Zorak announces excitedly to the alien crowds.

Another loud cheer erupts.

'Our two finalists then will be the laser-firing, martial artist, 'Hellraiser Hare', and the master of metal and technology, 'Crazy Canine'!' Zorak informs the eager audience.

Ace looks up to the Urrock leader in shock at this announcement as Furie is replaced by his friend Tech E. Coyote in the arena. Tech looks ahead at his leader in as horrified an expression as him.

'This is ridiculous!' Ace shouts up at Lord Zorak, 'We will not fight each other!'

'You two **will** fight! And you will not hold back! Or the rest of your companions will suffer terribly!' Zorak threatens to Ace and Tech.

Ace and Tech look up to the holding room where Lexi, Rev and Slam are being held. They see Urrock guards now pointing their crackling staff weapons at them. Lexi, Rev and Slam have frightened looks on their faces.

'I don't think we have a choice Chief,' Tech sighs defeatedly to Ace.

'Let the final round…BEGIN!' Zorak grandly announces with an evil grin.

Commercial break here.

Ace and Tech look at each other uncertainly. Then Tech clenches his right hand into a fist once again and his techno-gauntlet travels up his arm. Ace pulls out his sword from behind himself and brandishes it in front of Tech. A double-edged, heat-lined blade weapon slides into Tech's armoured right hand and the two Loonatics stare at each other hard. Quite suddenly they lunge at one another and their blades clash loudly. Their eyes flare with burning colours and they grit their teeth as they both struggle to get the upper hand over one another. But Ace, being the better swordsman, very quickly overpowers Tech and knocks the double-edged blade weapon out of his grasp. Tech quickly activates his gauntlet's metal shield and raises it above his head just as Ace brings down his sword upon it. Ace's sword collides with Tech's shield a couple of times before Tech uses his electromagnetic powers to pull it out of Ace's hand and send it flying quite a distance away. Disarmed, Ace fires his optic lasers at Tech's shield in full blast, pushing Tech right back into a wall. Weakened from the previous battles, Tech's shield soon crumbles under Ace's eye lasers and it falls apart under the intense heat and pressure. Tech is left wide open to Ace's powerful laser fire and he takes the incinerating blasts square in the body. The coyote lets out a terrible scream of excruciating pain as he feels his skin being rapidly ripped off and his bones being exposed; his whole body is set on fire as Ace continues to burn the coyote alive. After a few seconds of constant laser fire, Ace stops and looks at the now kneeling, blackened form of his comrade in regret.

'Tech?...' Ace utters fearing the worst for his friend.

Ace approaches the still form of the badly burnt coyote. Suddenly he jumps back slightly in surprise as a green glow envelopes Tech's body. Almost immediately, Tech is restored back to normal thanks to his molecular regeneration, except that his black outfit is torn at many places, leaving large patches of dark green fur exposed to the open. Tech rises to his feet with a grim look on his face and starts walking toward Ace.

'That hurt,' Tech dryly comments.

Ace backs up and lets loose with another round of optic laser fire. Tech doesn't budge from his straight path toward Ace. He holds up his armoured right arm over his face, to offer it some little protection from Ace's laser fire, and he continues to push forward against the laser-wave torrent. His body keeps on regenerating itself from the burns inflicted as he proceeds. Soon he reaches an arm's distance from Ace. He pushes out his armoured hand against Ace's laser fire, forcing his metal-plated palm over Ace's eyes in a head grasp and thus blocking his optic laser stream. Tech then tosses Ace to the ground. But Ace responds by pushing his body weight onto his grounded hands and then launching himself upwards so that his feet strike Tech in the chin. Tech falls back onto the ground. Ace stands over him and raises a fist up, ready to bring it down on Tech's face.

'I'm sorry Tech,' Ace apologises regretfully.

'So am I,' Tech replies solemnly.

Ace looks at his friend puzzled. Tech then suddenly uses his electromagnetic powers to lift Ace's sword from some distance away and position it in the air, unknowingly to Ace, behind his head. Before Ace realises what Tech is doing, he is struck on the back of his head by the blunt end of his own sword. The Loonatics' leader is knocked out cold and he falls to the ground. Tech sits up exhausted and looking sadly at the unconscious form of his leader.

'Brains beat brawn Chief. Brains beat brawn,' Tech pants more to himself than to Ace.

Up in Lord Zorak's balcony, the Urrock leader turns to another Urrock next to him to say something.

'These Acmetopians seem to be excellent fighters! They will make popular regular competitors for the Coliseum!' Zorak comments in a pleased manner to the other Urrock guard.

Suddenly to everyone's surprise, a giant holo-screen appears in the air above the fight arena grounds. Marvin's, the Martian Commander's face appears on the screen.

'Zorak! You are in breach of the Universal Law for abducting sentient life-forms from other planets! I know you are holding a group of Acmetopians against their will and I will have to demand that you release them! My Martian forces have this Duelling Coliseum surrounded! And though I would so enjoy the pleasure of blowing you and your Urrock space hunters to the next nebula, I will be courteous enough to advise you all to surrender yourselves to us immediately!' Marvin orders.

'The Martian Commander!' Zorak exclaims in angry surprise. 'How did he and his whole fleet slip by our alarm systems without detection?!'

Duck's arm is seen pushing Marvin out of the way on the holo-screen and his face takes position on the transmission.

'Yeah ya ugly lizards! Let my friends go or I'll push this big red button here and vaporize you all!' Duck threatens.

'Duck?' Tech says in surprise looking up at the holo-screen.

'Umm, that's the button for the screen wipers,' Marvin's voice is heard correcting Duck's empty threat from the background.

Duck laughs nervously on the screen. 'Oh…'

'Inferior Martians! The Urrocks will never submit to the likes of you!' Zorak shouts up at the Martian transmission. 'My Urrock brothers! Engage the Martians! We will fight to our very last breath if that's what it takes to destroy them!'

Urrock fighter ships emerge from all sides of the space Coliseum structure and begin attacking the Martian battleships. And laser guns emerge from the walls of the Coliseum firing at the Martians too. The Martian forces begin fighting back with their own advanced weaponry.

Inside Marvin's main battleship, Marvin turns to Danger Duck. 'Danger Duck, you will need to get into the Coliseum and retrieve your friends while my forces keep the Urrocks occupied,' he instructs.

'You don't have to tell me! I know what to do!' Duck snaps at the Martian commander.

Marvin rolls his eyes at the duck's arrogance.

'I shall go with you,' the Martian Queen volunteers to Duck.

'But my Queen!' Marvin starts in protest.

'No X-2, I must do this. A queen of Mars must be strong of mind and heart. She must possess bravery and prowess in the face of war. I am obliged to assist in our battle against the Urrocks!' the Martian Queen confidently states.

'Oh yeah, she digs me!' Duck brags.

With that, Danger Duck, the Martian Queen and a handful of Martian fighter drones head into the Coliseum in a small ship. Meanwhile, in the Coliseum fight arena, Tech has picked up the unconscious Ace and flung him over his shoulder. He proceeds to convert his techno-gauntlet into an electricity canon and begins firing at Urrock guards that try to stop his escape. He fights his way back to the holding room above and frees Lexi, Rev and Slam by pushing buttons on the outside of their containment vessels. The now freed Loonatics begin fighting back against the Urrock guards. Ace regains consciousness just in time to help his team.

'What the…? What's goin' on?!' Ace queries in surprise to find himself in the middle of a major fight.

'No time to explain Chief! Just help us take out these Urrocks!' Tech replies quickly.

Ace knocks down two Urrocks coming toward him with his eye lasers.

'We-need-to-find-the-way-out!-Pronto!' Rev states as he punches an Urrock rapidly.

Slam spins his way through a line of Urrock guards, knocking them in various directions and clearing a path for his team mates.

'Nice work Slam!' Lexi comments to the Tasmanian devil.

The Loonatics make their way out of the holding room.

In a corridor somewhere else in the Coliseum, Duck, the Martian Queen and their bodyguard drones race to find the other Loonatics.

'Your friends will be located somewhere near the fight arena,' informs the Martian Queen to Duck, 'We will head there.'

Suddenly as they turn round a corner, they bump straight into Ace and the others. Duck smacks into Ace and they both fall over from their collision. Slam runs into one of the Martian drones, sending it flying backwards into a wall where it is badly smashed.

'Ugahrahdah sorry!' Slam blabs in apology.

'Duck!' the other Loonatics all cry in relief.

'You actually came back for us!' Lexi cries in slight disbelief.

'Well of course I did! What? You thought I'd run off and abandon you all just to save my own feathers?' Duck accuses in annoyance at their lack of confidence in him.

Ace, Lexi, Rev and Slam look at each other shiftily. Tech just folds his arms and looks at them smugly.

'Told you so,' Tech teases.

'Just shows how much the rest of you really know me!' Duck further accuses in an angry and hurtful tone.

'You're right Duck! We'll never doubt you again!' Ace apologetically offers putting a hand on Duck's shoulder.

'This is all very nice and heart-warming, but we are on enemy territory and do need to getting out of here as soon as possible!' the Martian Queen impatiently reminds.

'Hubba hubba! Who she?' Slam asks with his long tongue lolling out of his mouth.

'I am the Queen of Mars!' the Martian Queen states.

'Don't worry, she and the Martian Commander kindly offered their help to me to rescue you guys!' Duck explains.

'Great to know! Now let's high-tail it outta here!' Ace suggests urgently.

The group start heading back the way Duck and the Martian Queen came from. They reach a craft hangar where their small Martian ship is parked. But then a large group of Urrocks ambush them and attempt to cut off their escape. Another major fight ensues. The Martian fighter drones fly ahead of the Loonatics and the Martian Queen, forming a defensive circle around them. They open fire at the Urrocks. The Urrocks fire back at the drones with their staff weapons, taking out a few of the drones. Ace and Lexi leap into the fray and fight several Urrocks in hand-to-hand combat. Rev zooms around back and forth between Urrocks, speedily knocking them out. Slam sweeps up a handful in a hand-launched tornado. Duck teleports himself into the air and re-materialises with a total of six power orbs in his hands, which he 'rains' down on the Urrocks in a circular sweep. The orbs hit the floor at the Urrocks' feet and explode, sending the Urrocks flying in all directions. Tech, having retrieved it from the arena, pulls out his double-edged, heat-lined blade weapon from his techno-gauntlet. He places both his hands on the central handle of the weapon and pulls it apart into two separate heat-lined blades, one in each of his hands. The blades glow a bright red as they radiate intense heat. Tech then starts moving forward, turning himself in full circles whilst swinging the heat-lined blades over his head and bringing them down on the Urrocks' staff weapons, chopping them in half as his burning blades easily slice through them. The Martian Queen, protected by three fighter drones and armed with a Martian particle gun, makes her way to the ship. Once inside it, she targets a few of the Urrocks with its guns and fires at them. The Loonatics follow her path, pushing their way past the few remaining Urrocks. Duck throws power orbs at the Urrocks and Tech fires electricity blasts from his electricity canon at them from the rear of their retreating team mates, covering their escape into the Martian ship. When they are all inside the ship, the Martian Queen takes off back to the main Martian battleship outside.

Meanwhile, Lord Zorak has fled to another craft hangar in the Coliseum, seeking to escape the war that has broken out. He is heading to a small Urrock escape spacecraft when he is suddenly confronted by none other than Marvin the Martian Commander, who stands directly in his path. Marvin points a particle gun at the Urrock leader.

'Hold it right there Zorak!' Marvin commands firmly, 'You're not getting away that easy!'

Taking him by surprise, Zorak whacks the particle gun out of Marvin's hand with a sudden strike of his staff weapon. He then whirls around and sweeps his reptilian tail under Marvin's feet, tripping the Martian over. Marvin rolls to the side just as Zorak brings his heavy scaled tail down on the floor where he lay a split second before. Marvin jumps back onto his feet and runs in a straight path for the Urrock, but just before he reaches his striking staff weapon, he swerves himself around to the back of the reptilian alien, grabs his dark purple cloak and pulls it over the Urrock's head. Zorak drops his staff and swings his clawed hands about blindly in an attempt to strike out at Marvin.

'Where are you Martian?! I'll tear you to shreds! I'll…' Zorak threateningly cries.

He is cut off though by Marvin firing a stunning energy blast at him with his own dropped staff weapon. Zorak falls to the floor out cold.

'Foolish aliens, they never learn,' Marvin quips to himself victoriously.

Later, the Martians have defeated the Urrocks and are taking them into their battleships as prisoners. Marvin has met up with the Queen and the Loonatics in his main battleship.

'Let me get this straight. So you're telling me that you really are 'the' Marvin the Martian that our forefathers knew and met in person?' Duck questions Marvin in a confused manner.

'That is correct,' Marvin replies, 'I was known to most Earthlings as 'Marvin the Martian', but on my home world of Mars and by some other planets we have…umm…had relations with, I am referred to as 'X-2 the Martian Commander',' Marvin explains.

'But that means you've got to be several centuries old!' Tech deduces in disbelief.

'Oh yes, us Martians can have very long life spans!' Marvin confirms.

'Well then it's an honour to meet one of the original Looney Tune gang!' Ace says enthusiastically.

He holds out his hand to Marvin. Marvin shakes it warmly and his eyes begin watering with emotion.

'I had thought Bugs and Daffy to be nothing more than a fond memory now, but I am glad to see their legacy lives on in you their descendents,' Marvin happily says. 'Oh and…this is for you Danger Duck.'

Marvin hands a life-like Duck Dodgers plush toy over to Danger Duck. Duck holds up the soft toy and wags it in a less than impressed manner in front of his face.

'Umm, gee thanks Marv,' Duck thanks in an unenthusiastic tone.

'It was a plush toy that your ancestor loved very much!' Marvin reveals.

'I wonder why…' Ace sarcastically mumbles.

'I'm sure it will be of great sentimental value to you!' Marvin adds.

'Yeah, I'll take it to bed with me every night,' Duck falsely promises whilst rolling his eyes.

'Speaking of beds, I'd like to be getting back to my own ASAP!' Lexi voices, 'I'll be needing my beauty sleep soon after all that action!'

'I'll give you all a ride back to Acmetropolis in my ship,' Marvin offers.

'That'd be much appreciated Marv!' Ace thankfully accepts.

'And take this Martian emergency communicator,' Marvin offers, handing a small device to Ace, 'If you're ever in major trouble and need me, just activate this and I'll receive your signal no matter how far away I am.'

'We'll use it in good health,' Ace assures.

'Thanks for all your help Marv!' Duck thanks Marvin, saluting him with an informal hand to his forehead.

'No, thank you Duck for coming to Mars and finding us!' Marvin gladly responds, 'I may never have known the descendents of my old acquaintances if you hadn't!'

Marvin runs his eyes over each of the Loonatics as if to commit their faces to memory.

'Now let's get you all back home!' he states.

With that, Marvin, the Martian Queen and the Loonatics all take their seats in the battleship control room. The ship's thrusters come online and the craft jettisons back to the Loonatics' home world.

**The End of Episode 5!**


	6. Chapter 6

Yey! I finally found a bit of time and energy to write up episode 6 of my fan-made season of Loonatics Unleashed! And just before my Christmas holidays are finished! Hope you all enjoy the read. It shall be my gift for the new year to all LU fans! But alas, I'll be back in university tomorrow (8th January '07), so again, it may be a while (months!) before I can write up another episode story.

Anyway, this episode introduces my ideas for Sylvester and Tweety descendents. So disregard the show's second season "Royal Tweetums" and "Sylth Vester" when reading this story.

Note that there's a little bit of 'supposed' Chinese I've written somewhere in this story. It's not accurate Chinese, I made it up, so don't try to ask a Chinese person to translate it precisely, 'coz it won't make any sense to them!

Thank you to everyone who left feedback on my previous episode stories. Please let me know what you think of this latest story readers!

As always, Loonatics Unleashed is the property of Warner Bros.! But Stealth Cat, Sonic Canary and the villains are my ideas.

Enjoy the read!

**Episode 6: The Cat and the Canary**

2:00 AM. At a quiet, ageing warehouse somewhere in Acmetropolis, a feline figure is perched silently on the roof of the building, scanning the vicinity around below him. He is covered head-to-toe in a dark navy blue jumpsuit patterned with silver lines running over his shoulders and down the sides of his body, complete with a silver utility belt and several pouches at various spots on his suit. A navy blue mask covers his face with two white eye holes. The feline anthro raises his gloved hand to his pointed cat ear and presses a radio button positioned there.

'No sign of them yet,' he mumbles into an in-built communicator in his mask. 'I'm starting to think your sources may have been somewhat incorrect Canary.'

Over at another secret underground location, a female canary bird anthro leans over a panel of electronics and responds to the cat's transmission. She is dressed in a similar jumpsuit to the feline except with gold lines on it, a simple eye piece mask that still reveals her aquamarine blue eyes, and long, bright blonde hair falls around her similarly coloured blonde-feathered face.

'Don't be so sure Stealth. The phone conversations I tapped into were definitely not 'incorrectly' sourced. They were from one of Maston's private lines. Our scanners I.D.ied his voice positively. It was him alright. The transaction should be going down tonight!' she confirms with certainty.

'Wait, I'm seeing two vehicles approaching,' Stealth Cat announces to her over his communicator.

As he spies the road below, he sees two inconspicuous silvery grey cars pull up just outside the large building. A group of 8 oriental-looking men dressed in dark blazers step out of the cars. One of them, wearing shades over his eyes, appears to be the leader of the group, taking the lead in front of the others. The other men carefully lift out a mysterious large metal case from the boot of one of their cars. They follow closely behind the leader with their cargo as he enters the shadowy warehouse.

'They've entered the warehouse. I'm following,' Stealth Cat announces over his com to his canary partner.

'Be careful,' she cautions in response.

With that, the feline anthro known as 'Stealth Cat' moves swiftly and quietly into the warehouse through a loose roof tile. Once inside, he expertly creeps along the length of metal beams just underneath the building's roof, following the direction of the oriental men.

The oriental men silently walk through shadows into the centre of the drafty building.

'You're late,' a deep, bodiless voice rings out from the shadows.

The source of the voice becomes apparent when a large, bulky man over 6ft steps into the scarce dim light available. His black hair is gelled smoothly back over his head, a thick moustache sits under his equally thick nose, and he is dressed in a spotless beige blazer and trouser suit set. A small group of 5 other dark brown-suited henchmen stand behind him.

Unknown to both sets of gangs, Stealth Cat is eavesdropping on them from the shadows above.

The shaded leader of the oriental group removes his shades from his eyes and neatly pockets them in his right chest pocket.

'Apologies Mr. Maston,' the Chinese gang leader offers, 'You understand how difficult our journey here was. What with having to travel overseas and avoiding detection by your country's 'tight' security and all.'

'You have the item?' Maston presses on.

'We do.'

Stealth Cat's white masked eyes widen as he eyes the cargo carried by the oriental gang.

The Chinese gang leader nods at his men carrying the large metal case. They respond by lifting the case to Mr. Maston, then setting it down on top of a wooden crate in preparation for his inspection. Maston eagerly reaches for the case and opens it. Inside he glimpses what looks to be a rusty ancient piece of Eastern armour. But a glimpse is all he gets. A sharp boomerang-like weapon lands on top of the case, pushing it closed again. All the gang men look upwards in the direction from which the thrown weapon originated. The descending shape of Stealth Cat overshadows them as he jumps down from the metal beams above. Before his feet touch the ground, he kicks out his legs in opposite directions, striking down two of the oriental criminals, one behind, one in front of him. He lands gracefully on all fours.

'Get that cat!' shouts Maston to his henchmen.

The Chinese gang leader orders his men to do something as well in their Mandarin language. They obey and quickly move to pick up their large metal case with its precious armour contents.

Maston's men run toward Stealth Cat to stop him, reaching into the insides of their jackets for their guns. The sleek cat swivels on a grounded hand and knocks the legs out from under 3 men in one sweeping take-down move. He then produces razor-sharp claws from his fingers and slices the guns held by the remaining 2 men into pieces in swift strikes. The now unarmed men back away in fear from the feline anthro.

'Sorry fellas, but none of you will be taking that 'prize' away tonight!' Stealth jests at the gang men.

Suddenly, Stealth is pushed to the ground as a binding rope is launched at him from behind. He unexpectedly finds himself tied helplessly on the floor and struggles vainly to free himself.

'Looks like your luck just ran out kitty cat!' laughs Maston's deep voice as he walks up to the struggling Stealth Cat, holding up the launcher that he had used to fire the rope at Stealth from behind.

One of Maston's henchmen then runs to him shouting, 'Mr. Maston! The Triads have gone! Along with the package!'

Maston's face falls into a dark anger momentarily. His thick hands clench into tight shaking fists, but then he manages to suck in his anger and regain a fairly calm composure again. He turns his gaze upon Stealth Cat once again.

'You and your partner's reputation precedes you 'Stealth Cat',' he continues in an unnerving smoothness. 'I'd heard whisperings in my underworld about 'The Infiltrators' and how efficient they were at tracking down the most elusive of criminals. I can't have that kind of trouble dogging me in my line of work now can I?'

'Stealth! Stealth, are you alright?! What's happening?!' Canary's concerned voice rings out from Stealth's mask's in-built communicator.

Maston, hearing the cat's audios, smirks.

'The 'Sonic Canary' I presume?' he guesses.

Stealth Cat remains silent to Maston's question.

'You better tell your little birdie over wherever she is to not sing a word of tonight to the police or to come looking for us!' Maston threatens to Stealth.

Stealth again remains defiantly silent. Maston's face pulls into a fearsome snarl.

'Tell her now!' he bellows at the cat, pulling out a gun and aiming it at his face.

Stealth still remains silent. Maston's fearsome face approaches Stealth's.

'I hope you're listening to me Sonic Canary!' Maston's voice booms down Stealth's communicator.

On the other end, the intended bird recipient listens fearfully.

'If you value this flea-bitten feline's life, you'll stay clear from my current business dealings! Or if you sing one word of this to the police, you can also be assured of the cat's 'painful' demise!' Maston warns threateningly.

'Canary! Forget about me! Take this trash ou…!'

But Stealth Cat doesn't get to finish his statement. On the other end, Sonic Canary gasps as she hears the sound of a heavy fist thump into the cat's face, rendering him silent, not by his choice this time.

Opening sequence starts here.

In Southern Acmetropolis, the Loonatics are battling a giant-sized villain. A man the height of the buildings around him is attempting to trample on the Loonatics. He is wearing an expanding deep purple and light blue suit. The Loonatics on the ground beneath him, are dodging and weaving around his huge boots.

'Who is this big brute again?' Lexi shouts over the thunderous steps of the giant man.

'Tremor, you can probably guess why he calls himself that!' Ace answers back to Lexi.

The two bunnies leap out of the way as Tremor attempts to squash them underneath his giant foot. They then launch their brain-blasts and optic lasers simultaneously at him, but they have little effect on the gargantuan man.

'It's no good! We're little more than flies to him! Our powers are only tickling that huge body of his!' Lexi observes.

'He should be the one calling himself 'Massive' if you ask me!' Duck quips in a reference to their old gravity-controlling villain.

'Well I have a few 'tremors' of my own to deliver! With my new 'Seismic Ground-splitters'!' Tech declares as he slides on two bulky, hi-tech mechanical gloves. Power lines on the metal gloves light up as Tech activates his new weapons. The coyote then smashes his gloved fists down unto the concrete ground. From their point of contact, the ground trembles and fault lines rapidly spread out through the concrete toward the hulking form of Tremor. Tremor wobbles unsteadily on the now fractured, shaky ground beneath his feet, but he manages to stay standing.

'Pathetic Loonatics! You're just minor annoyances to me!' cries Tremor in triumph.

The giant bends to a crouch and drops his huge palm down toward the ground above a vulnerable Duck, seeking to squash him. At the last moment, just before the huge palm hits, Rev speeds to the rescue, pushing Duck clear of the falling huge hand. There is a massive indentation left in the ground when Tremor lifts his heavy hand up again.

'I could have quacked myself out of there!' Duck complains to Rev, in annoyance at having being rescued by him.

'You're-welcome!' Rev replies the ungrateful mallard sarcastically.

Slam then spins toward Tremor's huge ankle at full tornado force. But the Tasmanian devil just bounces off it and goes crashing into a wall nearby.

'Need a little help?'

The Loonatics all turn their sights around to see the source of the assistance offer. They see a navy blue and gold-striped suited blonde canary anthro, Sonic Canary.

'Whoah! Who's the bird babe?' Duck drools at the sight of her.

'She-looks-hot-alright!' Rev comments in awe as well.

Sonic Canary runs toward Tremor.

'Cover your ears!' Canary shouts at the Loonatics. They do as she says.

Tremor lets out a thunderous, raucous laugh at the sight of the newcomer.

'What are you gonna do little birdie? Serenade me to sleep? Ha! Ha! Ha!' he mocks.

'Something like that,' Canary responds. She then inhales a deep breath and lets out an unnaturally piercing, high-frequency sonic scream. The sonic waves cause cracks to appear in the walls surrounding Tremor, and he doubles over covering his aching ears at the high-pitched scream.

'AAAGGHHHH!' he cries out painfully, 'Stop! Stop, please!'

Tremor then starts to shrink down to a smaller size. Canary stops when he has reverted to his normal human size. Tech moves quickly to the shrunken Tremor and attaches a capture device onto him, which then emits a restrictive, encapsulating energy field around him, preventing his body's growth expansion. Tremor struggles uselessly to break free of his energy field prison.

The other Loonatics approach Sonic Canary.

'Thanks for the assist!' Ace thanks Canary.

'Yeah, thanks,' Lexi sarcastically adds, rubbing her painfully throbbing sensitive ears.

'Those are some impressive vocals you got there Miss…' Ace trails off.

'Criminals know me as the 'Sonic Canary', but you guys can call me 'Tanya Tweet',' Canary answers to Ace's identification prompt.

Rev zips in front of Ace to face Sonic Canary. 'It's-a-pleasure-to-meet-you-Miss Tweet!-I'm…'

'…Rev Runner,' Canary finishes for him.

Duck suddenly pushes Rev aside so he can meet Canary too. 'And I'm…'

'…Danger Duck,' Canary again finishes. 'I know who you all are Loonatics. I've been seeking you out.'

'Ah a fan of mine of mine I see,' Duck gloats, smoothing his spikey hair back over his head.

'Don't be so full of yourself duck,' Canary scoffs. She then turns back to address Ace again. 'I require the Loonatics' assistance for a problem of mine.'

'We're all ears Tanya,' Ace responds.

Later at Loonatics' HQs, Sonic Canary is relaying her plight to the Loonatics in their command centre room.

'My partner 'Syvo Cat', better known as 'Stealth Cat', has been captured by Marcus Maston AKA 'The Crime Lord' during a particular illegal dealing of his, which we sought to prevent.'

As Sonic Canary talks, Rev and Duck stare dreamily at her with their faces cupped in their hands. She continues.

'Stealth and I have been tracking Maston's activities as best we could for the last 3 months, and we discovered he'd made a deal with Chinese Triads to purchase a priceless piece of artifact armour, stolen from a Shao Lin temple in Northern China.'

'What would this 'Crime Lord' want with an old piece of Chinese heritage?' Tech questions, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

'That is still up for speculation, but we do know he's willing to pay a hefty sum for it,' Canary answers.

'So you and this 'Stealth Cat', you guys work for the secret police or something?' Lexi queries.

'No, we're a low-profile vigilante duo known as 'The Infiltrators'. We've taken it upon ourselves to monitor and hunt down underworld criminals, just as you have become public superheroes to protect the city from major threats,' Canary responds.

'Other justice-doers operating right beneath our noses, who'd have thought?' Ace comments with intrigue.

'My main dilemma now though lies with rescuing my captive partner. I need help for a rescue mission as well as to take down the Crime Lord,' Canary summarises, 'I can't do it alone, and I'd prefer no police involvement at this time.'

'Don't you worry your pretty little head Miss Tweet!' Duck dramatically announces to Canary, 'Danger Duck is at your service!'

'And-the Rev-Runner-express-too!' Rev quickly chips in after Duck.

Canary raises an eyebrow curiously and looks at Duck and Rev, in puzzlement at their attempts to look heroic.

'Any ideas where Crime Lord would be holding yer buddy Tanya?' Ace asks.

'Not yet, but I can find out,' she answers confidently.

'Chief, if I might suggest, I think it would be of benefit if I went and did a little bit of research into that artifact armour Maston wants, from its source location in China,' Tech suggests. 'I can take the new turbo-fitted jet. Be there in 5 hours flat!'

Ace nods at Tech's suggestion. 'Alright Tech, take Lexi wid ya and do that. Keep in contact with updates.'

Tech nods in acknowledgement. 'Yes Chief!'

'The rest of us will follow Tanya to try and find the rock Crime Lord's hidin' under,' Ace instructs to the others. 'Loonatics, let's jet!'

Soon after, Tech and Lexi are buckling themselves into the seats of the turbo-fitted jet. Tech flips a few switches as they prepare to take off.

'Initiating launch sequence,' he informs.

'You just can't wait to get in the air and test this new baby of yours can you?' Lexi jokes at Tech.

'Don't be absurd Lexi! I'm just getting us to the Sei Ping region in Northern China,' Tech briskly denies.

The jet lifts out of the Loonatics' HQs gracefully.

'Hmm, perfect take off,' Tech comments to himself in a pleased manner, 'The Turbo Jet 5000 looks good so far.'

Lexi just smiles and shakes her head at him knowingly.

Meanwhile, Ace and the others head out in Tech's Turbo Accelerator 7500 vehicle to a run-down suburb area of Acmetropolis, following behind Sonic Canary who is riding her motorcycle and leading the way. They eventually come to a stop outside a dimly lit clubhouse.

'This looks like a friendly place to visit,' Duck sarcastically comments as he looks at the entrance to the shabby building.

'This is a hotspot meeting ground for thieves, mobsters and other manner of criminal offenders,' Canary informs the Loonatics. 'If anyone knows where Marcus Maston is at this time, they'll be in there.'

'Oh-boy!-We're-gonna-be-in-way-over-our-heads-this-time!' Rev nervously remarks.

Canary suddenly pulls herself uncomfortably close to Rev, approaching almost beak to beak with him. 'No worries Rev darling. You just gotta let them know who's boss, and they'll bend over backwards for you. Asserting your authority over criminals shouldn't be a problem considering you're a superhero. I assume it'll be a breeze for you.'

'Heh-heh!-Yeah,-a-breeze,' Rev nervously repeats.

Canary pulls herself away from a sweating Rev. Duck gives Rev a jealous stare as Canary walks to the clubhouse door. Inside the smoky clubhouse, a doorman hears a loud knocking at the door and goes to answer it. He opens a small peeping hole in the door.

'Password?' he asks gruffly.

The doorman's eyes widen in shock though when he sees who it is. Before he can react, the clubhouse door is kicked down by a stern-looking Sonic Canary, backed by four Loonatics. Everyone in the clubhouse turns their glares to the unwelcome intruders.

'I want the Crime Lord!' Canary dangerously demands as she and the four Loonatics make their way through the displeased stares of a sea of criminals. 'And someone here knows where he is!'

'You heroes got nerves barging in here!' shouts one ruggedly dressed man with a stubbly chin as he approaches the Loonatics and Canary with a metal bar in his hand.

More of the thugs also approach the heroes with chains, bats and knives at the ready.

'Uh oh, this mob's turning angry,' Duck nervously observes.

The first thug with a metal bar takes a swing at Sonic Canary, but she grabs his weapon, flings it out his hand and delivers a swift knee into his stomach. The other thugs then take shots at the five heroes with their own weapons. One man runs toward Ace with a knife held above his head, but Ace simply fires off an optic laser blast and melts the steel blade in the man's hand before he even reaches close enough to strike the bunny. Another man swings a bat at Duck, but hits empty air when the mallard teleports out. The man looks around himself in confusion at the disappearance of the duck. Duck then rematerializes behind the bat-wielder in a crouched position and he kicks the back of his knee, causing the man's legs to buckle and his hand to drop his bat. Rev runs dizzying circles around a man spinning a chain and before the man can blink, Rev snatches the chain out of his grasp and smacks a back fist strike across the man's face. Slam imposingly stomps toward two men who look up at the large-framed, burly beast in a frightened manner. They run away from him screaming. After the heroes have squashed the resistance, Canary walks up to a disoriented man lying by the wall rubbing his head, and picks him up roughly by the collar.

'I won't ask again! Where is the Crime Lord?!' Canary blasts into the man's face.

'He'll kill me if I tell!' the man pleads desperately.

'You'll have worst things to worry about if you don't tell us what you know!' Ace threatens, turning the man's petrified stare to face his glowing hot gold eyes.

The man gulps. 'I…I hear he'll be at the old factory on Rotherham Street, tomorrow night! Something about a second meeting with Triads!'

'Have you seen him in person since last night?! Did he have a captive with him?!' Canary further interrogates the trembling man.

'I…I don't know anything else! I swear!'

Ace places a restraining hand on Canary's shoulder. 'Canary, he doesn't know anything more. Let him go.'

Canary drops the man reluctantly. 'Alright, let's go,' she instructs to the Loonatics.

Canary, Ace, Slam and Rev make their way to the exit. Rev stops when he spots Duck at the bar trying to order a drink.

'And I want a slice of lemon on the glass too!' Duck orders at the man behind the counter.

Rev zips over to Duck and grabs him quick as a flash.

'Hey!' Duck protests as he is dragged out of the clubhouse by the speedster.

Two hours later, Tech and Lexi arrive in China. Their turbo jet lands at the bottom of some rocky mountains. The two Loonatics walk out of the jet only to be confronted with the sight of a dauntingly tall mountain.

'The Shao Lin temple we're looking for is up this mountain,' Tech informs.

'What?!' Lexi cries in disbelief. 'You mean we have to climb that whole mountain to get there?!'

'It would seem so,' Tech replies strangely unphased.

'No way are we gonna make it!' Lexi protests.

'Oh yes we will!' Tech holds up a set of hi-tech climbing gear including grappling hooks, extending cords, spiked boots and rock-digging clawed, metal gloves.

Lexi grins. 'I should've known! You always come prepared Tech!'

The coyote and bunny begin their ascent up the mountain. Half an hour later, they reach their destination near the top. An old Chinese temple greets them there.

'That must be the place,' Lexi declares, hauling herself up over the last stone ridge.

Tech and Lexi approach the temple entrance. To their surprise, two orange-robed monks leap down from nowhere in front of them, taking fighting stances. Lexi responds immediately by taking on a fighting stance as well, but Tech blocks her path with a straight arm.

'Wait Lexi! We don't want to make enemies here! We need information from these monks! Let me handle this!' Tech explains.

Lexi nods and relaxes her guard. Tech slowly takes a few steps forward toward the monks with his arms raised calmly at his sides.

'Wor bu sart sha ne chi sah na,' Tech speaks to them in a peaceful manner.

The monks relax their guards as well as Tech speaks.

'Ee wrah buah ju!' one of the monks reply to Tech in a greeting tone.

The two monks bow in greeting to Tech and he reciprocates them with a bow of his own.

'Ka suh nee bai ja lor moo jia. Bu yow zuwah mei!' Tech continues in his surprisingly fluent command of Chinese.

'Ho! Lai lai!' one monk calls with a beckoning hand as the other pushes the temple entrance gate open.

'We can go in now,' Tech informs Lexi.

'Wow Tech! I never knew you could speak Chinese!' Lexi says impressed.

'And 11 other languages plus reading skills in 4 forms of ancient writing systems and sign language!' Tech smugly boasts.

'Okay, that's just showing off now,' Lexi replies.

Tech and Lexi are led through the temple gates and into the temple itself. Inside they are met by an old, bearded grand master of the temple. Tech explains in Chinese their reason for coming to him. The aged man nods in understanding. He proceeds to tell Tech something in Chinese.

'What did he say?' Lexi queries to Tech.

'He says they were raided a week ago, and their revered ancient armour of warriors was stolen, hence why there were guards at the gate just now,' Tech translates back to Lexi, 'They've, understandably, become a little wary of outsiders since then. He also said that according to their legends, that armour is said to bestow great power upon its wearer.'

'Would a crime lord from Acmetropolis seriously believe in such a story?' Lexi wonders aloud.

'Why else would Maston go to the extent of dealing with Triads and be willing to pay so much for that armour?' Tech reasons.

'But who in this age believes in ancient magic?' Lexi argues in some disbelief.

'I've always thought it's not out of the realm of possibility,' Tech replies.

Tech turns back to the grand master and asks something else in Chinese. The grand master gives an instruction to one of his monk students, who then runs out into another room. He returns a few seconds later holding an impressive, long sword with ancient engravings on the blade. The monk hands it over to Tech and bows. The grand master proceeds to explain about the sword to Tech in Chinese.

'He says this sword, again according to legend, is said to be the only weapon that can withstand the power of the armour and penetrate it,' Tech translates again for Lexi, 'It could be useful to us.'

Tech and the grand master respectfully bow to one another, then Tech and Lexi take their leave of the temple. Later, they board the turbo jet and take off into the air again.

Tech activates the com channel, contacting HQs. 'Tech to base, is anyone there?'

'Ace here. What did you and Lex find out Tech?' Ace responds from HQs.

'We spoke with a grand master at the Shao Lin temple. Apparently, the armour that was stolen from them is supposed to grant its wearer 'great power'. We also picked up something that might be of help in combating it,' Tech informs Ace.

'And we got a tip that the Crime Lord is gonna be at the old Rotherham Street factory to meet with the Triads again tonight!' Ace informs Tech in return.

'We'll be back as soon as we can. Whatever you do, don't let Maston put on that armour! I don't think any of us wants to find out what kind of 'great power' that armour would give him!' Tech advises Ace.

'Got'cha Tech. Ace out.'

With that the communication is cut off.

'Strap in tight Lexi, I'm putting this puppy into overdrive!' Tech warns.

'Oh boy…' Lexi mutters, gripping her seat's arm rests tightly. 'Just watch out for the…AHHH!'

Lexi cries out in fright as the turbo jet's engines blast out with increased ferocity, propelling the craft at an even higher velocity through the air.

Some hours later at midnight back in Acmetropolis, Maston and his henchmen are waiting in the old factory. Stealth Cat is bound to a chair nearby him, flanked by two armed men. He writhes in the tight ropes that bind him.

'Don't bother struggling anymore Stealth Cat. No one's coming to rescue you y'know,' Maston taunts.

'Just you wait Maston! Sonic Canary will take you down soon enough!' Stealth retorts back.

Maston laughs loudly in the masked cat's face. 'I very much doubt that,' he smirks, 'Not with your life on the line.'

Maston turns his back on the feline anthro and walks away. Soon, the Chinese Triads arrive again to meet with Maston, along with their cased armour.

'I hope there are no more interruptions to our transaction this time,' comments the Triad leader with some annoyance in his tone.

'There won't be Mr. Cho,' Maston assures.

Mr. Cho, the Triad leader, snaps his fingers and two of his men bring forward the cased armour again. Maston's eyes follow it eagerly. The Chinese men open up the case to reveal the ancient armour to Maston. He nods at them in pleased satisfaction.

'Finally, it's mine!' he breathes to himself.

'And now for our payment?' Mr. Cho impatiently reminds Maston.

'But of course,' Maston smilingly replies.

Before one of Maston's men can move forward with a suitcase of money, a flaming ball that turns into tar splats onto the suitcase, knocking it out of the man's grasp and sticking it to the floor.

'What the?!' Maston cries out in surprise.

Suddenly, Danger Duck jumps out from behind some wooden crates, launching more power orbs at the men. A couple of the men are knocked over by his tar eggs and stuck fast to the floor.

'Surprise! Who's up for some Duck omelettes?' Duck jokes.

As more of the armed men attempt to take aim at the mallard with their guns, a red blur whizzes past them all. They then notice that their guns are missing.

'Looking-for-lost-toys-boys?' Rev teases as he waves their guns at them from a distance. He then snaps the long guns into halves across his raised knee and scatters the broken pieces onto the ground around him.

Slam lumbers out from a hiding place by some old factory machinery and starts swatting the unarmed men aside. Ace punches and kicks his way through the clusters of henchmen, including Mr. Cho, as well.

Meanwhile, Maston runs to the Shao Lin armour. He grabs it from its case and rushes to hide behind some wooden crates by a wall.

Sonic Canary runs over to the tied up Stealth Cat and begins untying his ropes.

'Took ya long enough Canary!' Stealth complains mockingly.

'Sorry Stealth, went to get some help.' Canary nods at the four Loonatics to demonstrate her point.

'So I see,' Stealth acknowledges.

Ace runs to the case that the armour had been held in and checks it. 'Ey, where's the armour?!'

'Right here rabbit!'

Ace whirls around only to be whacked across the head by a strong, thick-armoured arm. He goes flying right into a wall. A fully armoured, aura-radiating Maston marches into view, laughing sinisterly.

'Rugahbah Ace!' Slam goes running to Ace's aid, but he is knocked about 15 feet back by a powerful blast of bright crimson energy from Maston's glowing, armoured arm. Maston lets out a maniacal laughter.

'He has the armour on!' Canary gasps in dismay.

'I'm invincible!' Maston cries out triumphantly.

Rev and Duck attempt to charge at Maston from each side. Maston fires a narrow crimson beam at Rev's approaching feet, tripping the sprinting road runner over. Then a large wooden crate nearby is encompassed with his red energy and he levitates it right at Duck. The flying crate smashes into the side of the mallard, knocking him over hard.

'The Loonatics are down!' Canary cries in dismay at the situation.

'Then it's up to us!' Stealth Cat pulls out a small explosive pellet from his belt and tosses it at Maston. It explodes, but when the dust clears, the red-radiating Maston is still standing, undamaged.

'No way!' Stealth cries in disbelief.

'Is that the best you can do?' the empowered Maston taunts.

'There's more to come Crime Lord!'

Canary, Stealth, Ace and the other Loonatics look around to see the source of the voice. It is Tech with Lexi standing next to him. Tech holds up the sword he received from the Shao Lin grand master.

'Sorry we're a little late, but y'know what traffic's like these days,' Lexi jokes.

'You think you can stop me with a puny sword?' Maston roars at them.

He fires a crimson bolt of energy at Tech, but Tech deflects it with the sword.

'Well what d'ya know? The legends are true!' Lexi comments.

'Is it that surprising?' Tech curiously questions her.

Tech blocks more blasts from the powered Maston with the blade. Finally he positions the blade to reflect a blast right back at Maston. The reflected beam hits the villain right in the chest, knocking him over onto the floor.

'Stealth! Canary! Catch!' Tech levitates the sword with his magnetic powers in their direction. Stealth catches it. 'It'll cut right through that armour!' Tech shouts to them.

Maston picks himself up from the floor in a fury.

'Canary! Soften him up!' Stealth orders.

'You got it!' Canary inhales deeply and fires out a piercing sonic scream at Maston. He is pushed back a couple of feet, but still withstands the tearing sonic currents.

As soon as Canary's sonic scream stops, Stealth then jumps up and flips forward through the air. He brings the sword above his head and lands performing a vertical strike down the centre of Maston's armour. Maston stumbles backwards from the force of the sword strike and the armour splits in two. Maston gasps and attempts to make a break for the exit, but he is halted in his tracks by a brain blast from Lexi.

'What's the big rush Crime Lord?' Lexi jests at him, 'Stick around for a while! You'll be having guests in uniforms coming round soon.'

Stealth and Tech proceed to tie an angry-looking Maston up.

'Good job guys!' Ace commends everyone.

Some time later, at Loonatics' HQs, Stealth and Canary are speaking to the Loonatics for a final time.

'Thanks for your help Loonatics. We couldn't have brought the Crime Lord to justice without your help,' thanks Stealth.

'And I wouldn't have been able to get my partner back on my own,' Canary adds. 'We owe you guys one.'

'Don't mention it,' Ace replies in a friendly manner. 'We help where we can.'

'We worked pretty well together actually,' Canary comments to all the Loonatics, 'We should do it again sometime.'

'If you could do with some extra help for a tough mission in future, look us up,' Stealth offers, 'The Infiltrators are always around!'

'We'll be sure to do that,' Tech replies gratefully.

'Pardon my saying so but…it's rather odd seeing a cat and a bird working so closely together,' Lexi comments uncertainly. 'I mean, don't you guys ever 'not get on'?'

'Sure, we nearly killed each other on our first encounter,' Stealth shrugs glancing at Canary. 'But we're not quite a Sylvester and Tweety rivalry.'

Lexi just smiles and nods politely at Stealth's answer, though she is still confused.

Duck sidles up to Canary's side. 'Soooo, since we're your heroes now, do I get a kiss?'

Canary gives the mallard a sharp smack across his beak.

'Oww!' Duck rubs his beak tentatively.

'In your dreams Duck,' Canary huffs in offence.

Stealth and Canary bid the other Loonatics farewell as they head out.

'Bye Rev!' Canary winks at the road runner.

Rev, in a happy, dream-like state, waves back to her. 'Bye Tanya…'

Duck glances in surprise from Canary to Rev. As soon as Stealth and Canary have left the room, Duck marches up to Rev.

'What was that all about?' Duck demands.

Rev blinks at Duck. 'Hmm?-What?'

'Why'd Tanya give 'you' a wink?' Duck interrogates again.

'She gave me her number,' Rev sighs in an unusually slow speech speed.

Duck feels his face turning red with jealousy. 'That's not fair! I'm the better looking one!'

'Rev must be the better sweet talker then,' Tech surmises to infuriate Duck further.

The other Loonatics giggle at this.

'You're all despicable!' Duck mutters.

**The End!**


End file.
